Mixings
by Chrios
Summary: little bit of bad language and kissing. BtVSHP. WTonks, SB, DD, maybe. others undecided. Scoobies invited to Hogwarts to help out, and be trained. bit of death talk. serious kissing after ch. 7.
1. beatings

AN: Here's a Buffy/hp crossover for all of you fans of that out there. It's probably either going to be harry/Hermione Willow/Tonks, Spike/Dawn, Buffy/Draco, Giles/maybe McGonnagal. Notice that Ron doesn't appear in my pairings. I'm a vicious Ron hater and he'll only appear in my stories as a very minor character, barely appearing at all. Hopefully y'all like this one better than Goddess. The character Chris might make a regular out of herself here, and she has the same powers she does in goddess, so if you want to know what's up with her, check out Goddess, chapter 2, by Chrios, in the buffy the vampire slayer crossover section.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing that belongs to Joss Whedon or J K Rowling, but the idea and a few characters belong to me.  
  
Spoilers: a lot. The HP books to date, Order of the Phoenix, and the buffy verse up to... um, I guess season 6, the end of it, Tara died by somethng unnatural, Willow lost control, the three losers all just never happened, Buffy never fell into depression after dying the second time. Faith might show later, I don't know, but it's going to be way AU.  
  
On with the story!!!  
  
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Harry sat staring blankly at the wall in his room, bored out of his mind. He missed Sirius, and even though everyone told him that it was not his fault that Sirius had died, he felt that it was. Harry would have started crying at the thought of the man's name, but he had no more tears left. It was depressing, really. No one could know how he felt, no one. Unless they had lost a parent or close relative and had seen it happen or had seen the person dying or freshly dead, no one could know how he felt. He sighed and thought, 'I feel like going out for a walk. Maybe that could clear my head out. I know that I'll be safe because I'll be watched.' Harry laughed bitterly. 'Nice to know that I'll be in the hands of people who couldn't even save the one person who meant the most to me.'  
He went down stairs to the front door with a yelled comment of, "I'm going out!" to his aunt and uncle, and went walking around the park. He decided that he wanted to go see what was playing in the movie theatre, just to take his mind off of what he was thinking about. He was about halfway there, by the high school that he would have gone to had he not been a wizard, when he heard his cousin's voice, along with the voice of a girl(probably around his age) and the voices of Dudley's stupid gang.  
'Oh, goody' harry thought, moving to see what his lump of a cousin and his gang were doing to the poor girl. 'Now I get to break up a Dudley fight and rescue someone, risking my own neck in the process. Hermione's right, I do have a hero complex.'  
  
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'Oh god,' Hermione thought, panicking as the great brutes surrounded her, cornering her on the track of a high school. 'My parents are gone, the wizarding world has no idea, I can't find Harry, and now I'm going to be beaten or worse! Oh, Harry, please show up! Please! I need you and your heroics now...' Hermione, despite the predicament that she was in, felt a warm feeling inside just thinking about the boy who lived. His hair was so hot, always messed up in a way that made her go crazy with desire. He could bear to get contact lenses instead of the glasses he wore, but he still looked hot with or without them. 'What am I doing? I'm about to get bloodied up and I'm thinking about how hot Harry is! Well, at least my mind was off of the nasty brutes in front of me for a few seconds,' Hermione thought as the fist of the biggest and stupidest looking one came towards her quickly.  
As the fist was about to connect, the bushy-haired girl heard a voice call out, "picking on girls, Dinky Diddydums? I thought that your mum raised you better than that, oh wait, no I didn't, since I was raised with you." The voice took a second, presumably to think. "Oh well, no matter. It's still not very nice of you to pick on girls, especially... Hermione?!" The voice exclaimed, seeing the hair and face, and recognising the clothes as the ones she had been wearing the last time he had seen her. "What're you doing here being bullied by my bastard of a cousin?" harry asked his friend, feeling a shiver go up his spine at the thought of Hermione, any Hermione. He put the feeling away in his mind to think about later, when things weren't quite so... brutal. He saw that girl that he'd had a crush on for years was in trouble, so he immediately pulled his wand out after he saw that his cousin was going to take advantage of the girl's distraction. He yelled at Dudley, "Hey Dinky, how would you like to taste a few hexes that I learned last year? There are a few that I think you'd find quite enjoyable."  
"You-you're not allowed to do magic, mum said that if you did any more you-you'd get expelled!" Dudley stuttered, lowering his fist and trying not to look scared in front of his gang, which was still looking at Harry like they knew him from somewhere.  
"Hey, looky here! It's Potter, our first punching bag!" Piers Polkiss said suddenly, realising who it was. "Potter, aren't you being a little brave, taking on the whole gang after the beatings that we gave you for years?"  
"You're the ones being a little brave, messing with someone who's been attending St. Brutus' Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. Don't you think I've learned something about fighting in the 6 years that I've been attending? Otherwise, I wouldn't even be alive! You lot think you're all that, but the boys I go to school with make you lot look like weaklings with the muscles of little duckies. So leave the girl alone and sod off, before I get really mad!" Harry was yelling slightly, seeing Hermione's confused expression and mouthing, 'I'll explain later.'  
The boys all looked at each other and decided that no girl was worth getting beaten over. Especially not a girl that meant something to an incurable criminal. Dudley led them all away and Harry helped Hermione up and asked what she was doing in Surrey. Her eyes started to tear up as she thought about it again.  
"Shh, shh, it's okay, Hermione. You don't have to explain yet. Do you want to come to my house to calm down a bit first? I'll just have to sneak upstairs first to get my invisibility cloak, then I'll come and get you. Is that all right?"  
Hermione nodded and accepted the hand that he offered to her to help stand. When he let go, however, she collapsed from weakness and fright from the boys and her near-death experience. So Harry put an arm under her shoulders and was surprised when she snuggled up to him and leaned on his chest for support and comfort. They made their way back to Privet Drive and Harry got the cloak and brought Hermione up to his room, where they sat on his bed quietly for a while. The Harry cleared his throat and asked what she had been doing at the school.  
Hermione said, "I was hanging out with my muggle friends, going to the movies and out to dinner, you know? And I left them at the corner of my street, where we all part." Harry looked like he was about to interrupt, so she said, "Don't say anyhting just yet please? I want to get it all out." At his nod she continued. "I got to the front door of my house and I felt that there was something wrong but couldn't place what. Then I got inside and saw the dark mark hanging over the bodies of my parents, and they were twisted. There faces were done up in horrible poses, like someone had set them that way. And the death eaters left a note, saying, 'leave the school of witchcraft and wizardry to the pure witches and wizards or you'll soon be seeing your foul mudblooded parents again. Cheers, LV'. Harry, my parents are gone! As soon as I saw that, I ran out of the house with my bag and just kind of walked about in a daze. Then those bludgers found me and started on me, and then you know what happened." Hermione started to cry again, and Harry reached over and pulled her into his arms, holding her and letting her cry.  
They stayed like that for some time, Hermione sniffling against Harry's chest and Harry just holding her and comforting her with a sooting tone of voice. Harry heard Dudley come home and decided to make trouble for him, put him on the spot and scare the crap out of him, basically.  
"Hey Diddy, how was your outing after I saw you at the park?" Harry asked in a nasty tone that his uncle and aunt missed as they sat in the kitchen with Dudley watching him eat.  
"Fine, we, erm, went to do the usual stuff. Y'know, tea, showing off for girls, that stuff." Dudley was nervous. He didn't know who the girl who he had attacked was, but he knew that she was special to Potter, which made her off- limits.  
"Really? That's nice. Well, I'll just be around if anyone wants to talk to me," Harry said, putting an emphasis on talk that not even Dudley could miss. He walked out of the room and a few minuted later his cousin came after him with a nervous expression on his face.  
"All right, what do you want Potter? An apology? Fine, I'm sorry I attacked the girl. I didn't know that she was special to you," Dudley was saying to Harry, who was standing silently listening to the fat boy with interest.  
"Yeah, that girl you attacked? That was my girlfriend,"Harry lied to make an excuse. "She's better than me at magic, and if she hadn't been surprised by you losers she would have cursed you out of the country. Lucky for you, she's nice and feels pity for muggles. You know that I don't feel the same for this family. Do anything to her ever again and I will make sure that your secrets are revealed to your parents. Or are they aware that your tea is lined with crack and Mary Jane?"  
"Fine, I'll leave all girls alone from now on, should make it harder to get in trouble any way."  
With that the boys went separate ways.  
  
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what do you think? Is it a keeper or no? I have it planned out, so maybe you want to give it time before deciding?  
  
Peace,  
  
Chris 


	2. wonderings

1Awesome!! I've got two reviews, so kudos to Tanydwr and Paladin 3030.

Paladin, yeah this is going to be a Spike Buffy. I think I decided on making it a Dawn Draco too. Yeah, I agree. There are a lot that have Harry hooking up with everyone else.

Disclaimer: I don't own what doesn't belong to me, and that's most of the characters. I said it, now I have a broken heart.

Happy now?

Sections are separated by 9696969696, thoughts are in '...'

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Hermione had seen what had happened between the cousins, and she had heard what Harry had said. She was curious, though, about why he had said it. 'Was it because he just wanted to make his cousin sweat, or because he really wants me to be his... no, don't be silly, Hermione. Harry deserves more than just you,' she thought venomously to herself. 'Harry would want to go out with Cho or some Quidditch player or full blood, not some muggle-born like me.' Malfoy had really done a number on her confidence, but she hid it well to anyone but herself. 'If you're really curious, just ask Harry when he comes back, god, I can't believe that you're considered the smartest witch in your year, or most other years, for that matter. You couldn't even keep your parents safe.' Hermione's sub-conscious really let her have it when she was feeling down, making her feel worse. This time she simply told herself that she was good enough, and that she would ask Harry, and that she was good enough, no matter what anyone else said.

Harry came in and saw that Hermione was lying down on his bed, looking like she was deep in thought, and he didn't feel like disturbing her, so he just kind of sat awkwardly on the edge of his bed and thought about what he had just said. Hernione was his girlfriend. He liked the thought of it, but he didn't know how she would feel about it. Maybe she didn't like him like that, just as a friend. He sighed and that woke Hermione from her internal argument.

"Harry? What's wrong?" Hermione asked, seeing a weird expression on his face. She wondered if it had something to do with what he had just said to his cousin.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just thinking about what I said to Dudley just now." He wondered what he could say to her.

"Harry? I heard what you said to your cousin," Hermione said tentatively, wondering how to say what she wanted to. "Did you mean what you said when you said that I was your

girlfriend?"

"That depends on what you want, Hermione," Harry replied, looking nervous. I mean, I would like it if you were my girlfriend, but it depends on what you want. I won't force this on you."

"Harry, I've wanted this for longer than you can imagine. Ever since first year, I've had a crush on you," Hermione admitted, hoping that she hadn't scared him away.

"Really? Me too. I mean, I had a crush on you as well, but I figured you and Ron fought so much that you were just covering up that you liked each other, so I just forced myself to go out with other girls. That crush I had on Cho lasted only until she really sat down and talked with me, and I found out the only reason she liked me was because she wanted to hear about Cedric. So, Hermione, we can be together? You're okay with that?" Harry had been babbling and he knew it, but Hermione thought that it was incredibly cute and told him so.

"Harry, of course I will. I thought that you didn't want me because you only wanted a Quidditch player or a pure-blood. I guess I crossed you with Ron and Malfoy," they both started laughing at that image. Then she had a thought. "Oh, God! Ron! How are we going to tell him? He'll go nuts, because I think that you're right and he does have a crush on me."

Harry sobered pretty fast and said, "I don't know what we can do about him, but he's our friend, he should be happy for us, right?" Harry wasn't even believing his own words, but he hoped that Hermione didn't know that.

"Harry, are you completely bonkers? He'll flip out, you know Ron and his temper." Hermione was now wondering if they should even tell Ron about them.

"Hermione," Harry said, reading the look on her face. "Baby, we have to tell him. He'll just be hurt if we don't. And he might hurt us if we don't. Maybe it won't be bad if we just tell him straight on?" Both of them looked at each other and knew that telling him at all was a bad idea, so instead of talking about what they were going to do about Ron, Hermione fell into Harry's open arms and snuggled up to him. They both started wondering what Ron was doing and how he would take the news. They fell asleep snuggling.

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Meanwhile, in the Weasley household...

"Hey, Ronnikins," George said to Ron as he and Fred walked over, seeing that their little brother was distracted by something. Fred grinned and added, "thinking about your little girlfriend, Ronnie?"

"Shut up, you prat! I don't have a girlfriend!" Ron snarled, thinking about Hermione and wondering if she felt the same way about him that he did about her. He really loved her, but couldn't think of a way to show it, so he teased her and started fights with her all of the time. But she participated, so he thought that it meant that she liked him too. He wondered how Harry was doing as his brothers tormented him mercilessly, going on about how he was a prefect and how he was shaming the family be becoming one. 'I wonder how his family is treating him this year? Hopefully better than last year. I wonder how Hermione is?

"Earth to Ron," Fred said, snapping the younger Weasley out of his daydream.

"What do you want now?" Ron asked, annoyed with his brother at interrupting his thought process.

"I just offered you a piece of candy, not of the ton tongue variety, if you want it, geez, don't snap my head off, all high and mighty one," Fred said, slightly grinning in anticipation of the joke he was about to play. When put in a mouth, this candy would send the sensation of being stunned through one's body. The twins were planning to add the candies to the Skiving Snack boxes and needed to see if they worked. With them, a student could pretend that they were suffering the effects of an earlier class and skip out early. The twins knew that the product wasn't dangerous, they had taken them as well, but they wanted to see how someone unexpecting to take one.

Ron put it into his mouth and sucked on it for a few moments before feeling funny. He started to go rigid, like he was stunned. Ron started panicking, and his brothers saw this, for they told him to stay calm and that he was the newest test subject of theirs.

As he started to feel the effects worse, he wondered how Hermione and Harry were doing.

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AN: so, is this better? Is it any good? Should I keep it going? Feedback is totally appreciated, I think it's something all authors need. I hope you all like it, flame or praise me, I just need to know what you think.

Peace and Love,

Chris


	3. planning

1Disclaimer: I own none of it, not a single hair on a character's head. Oh, except for the characters not found in any series and hopefully the plot. Ok, I own some of it. Yes, it is late. How did you all know?

Thoughts in '', page break symbolized by .

anyone who reviewed, I luv ya. You rock, there it is. Anyone who read and didn't review, I'm gonna cry. I have open email for anyone who feels like reviewing there. idolgrrl1 (at) , idolgrrl1 (at) , ccuz57 (at) Okay?

No more questions? Then on with the story! There will be buffy action here, but I changed my mind about Tara. She did die. But the thing with the nerds still didn't happen. She died of, um, a thing that I can't think of right now. But there is still a W/T pairing, just an HP T instead of a BtVS T. You'll figure it out, and I apologize for any real Tara lovers, myself being one, I just thought that maybe I could go somewhere more with this particular pairing. Don't hurt me please?? A'ight? Right then, on with it!

Chris popped into Harry's room, knowing from the link she had with all of the people that she cared about that Hermione was there and what had happened. That, and she had just escorted the Granger's into heaven the day before. 'Shit!' Thought the young looking goddess angrily. 'Why didn't I keep closer tabs on them! I knew that they were muggles and related to one of Harry's best friends. Why! Why did more innocents have to die because of a power hungry half-muggle hypocrite?' Angry with herself, she stopped and looked around the bedroom, noticing no one on the floor. She smirked and looked to the bed, where Hermione was curled up against Harry's body, and the aforementioned boy had his arms wrapped protectively around Hermione's shoulders. Both bore a slight smile on their faces. 'Aww, I hate to break it up, but if I'm going to take Hermione to see her parents I have to do it now before I think about it too much.' With that, she walked forward, not making a sound.

Chris put a sound-dampening spell on the room so that the Dursleys couldn't hear what was going on in there, if they actually cared. She walked over to the bed and jumped on it, purposely missing the sleeping teens and opting instead to disturb their peace. "WAKE UP!!!!" she yelled, effectively getting them up.

Harry bolted up into a sitting position, bringing Hermione, still in his arms, with him. "What the bloody hell was that for, you bitch?" The boy angrily asked, not appreciating being woken up in such a manner. "We were sleeping!"

"No, really? 'Cuz I thought that you were wide awake, not even knowing how sleep felt," Chris replied sarcastically, causing the Boy- That- Lived to roll his eyes.

"Fine, we're up now. Did you have something that you needed, or was your sole purpose to annoy the sh-"he started, before Hermione interrupted in a softer tone, touching his arm to calm him.

"What he means is, did you want something, Chris?"

"Ahh, that's the tone to get what you want. Hermione, your parents want to see you again, if you wanted to say good-bye. I can bring you up to them for a visit. Well, it's against the rules, but since I'm who I am they have a bit of a soft spot for me and they know my blatant disregard for the rules, so it should be fine. So do you wanna?" Chris asked, finishing the babble that she got into unconsciously.

Hermione giggled a little at the babble and then nodded her head in response to the question, wanting very much to see her parents again. "Can Harry come with me?" She asked, just to see what the response was.

"No, I'm sorry, but only someone in your situation, with freshly dead parents killed by the all great lord" said with a scoff and a cough sounding suspiciously like a laugh, "can come up. Actually, they're not supposed to either, but I'm making an exception because I feel sorry for ya kiddo."

"Hermione turned in Harry's arms and faced him. She whispered, 'I don't know when I'll be back, if the time works differently there or something. I will be back when I can be, though." She brushed her lips against his cheek while Chris looked on in amusement. 'I never saw those two as a couple. She made the right choice between the two that she hangs out with, though. I don't like that red-head.' Harry held her as she was about to leave and kissed her ful on the lips, not wanting to let go now that they had gotten together. "Just be careful," he made her promise. "We lost your parents, I don't want to lose you as well." Her eyes shined with tears as she left his embrace to enter Chris'.

"Hold on tight, chica. Well, it doesn't really matter how tight you hold on, but it sounds cool," Chris started as she teleported them to heaven.

Heaven

Hermione looked down at herself and yelped at what she saw. "Chris, help!" She exclaimed, using her hands to cover herself.

"What?? What's the matter?!" Chris asked, startled by the request.

"I'm not wearing any clothes!" Hermione wailed and looked surprised and angry when Chris started to chuckle. "What, may I ask, is so funny about this? And why are you wearing clothes?" She demanded, looking at the goddess by her side.

"It's always funny to see a mortal's reaction to the 'no clothing' thing. Once you're dead you have a choice of whether or not to wear the white and gold robe that we wear up here, but if you're a human that hasn't died or is currently alive you don't have the option. Your clothes will be returned to you, don't worry. When we go back down. Heck, they'll even be spotless. I have the benefit of the doubt because I am a..." Chris started to explain when a lightning bolt suddenly flew at her.

"Chrios! What do you think you are doing, bringing a human into our midst?" An angry voice demanded, as clouds parted and a tower of golden skin and muscle approached them.

"Ah, Zeus. My favorite little brother. She just lost her parents to Voldywort, you know, the evil wizard, blah blah blah, destroy all muggles? The Granger's, I just brought them in yesterday, sobbing. She never got to say goodbye, and I'm afraid..." Chris took a look at Hermione and switched to a psychic link. 'I'm afraid that she'll try a resurrection spell and endanger everything like the Summers girl did when her mom died."

Zeus nodded in understanding and said, "but it is still against the rules! I don't care if you are my superior, I have to deny entrance!"

Chris thought for a moment and then said, "How about a deal? A fight? If I win, we go in, you don't try anything. Neither does anyone else. If you win, we leave and I bring the ghosts of the Granger's down to see their daughter. No harm done that way, but non-corpeal. Deal?" Chris held out her hand and the two gods shook hands, sealing the bet.

Then they assumed fighting positions and Chris shouted, "BEGIN!" Then it was truly a clash of titans (ok, gods, but titans fit the saying better) as the two fought. Chris had to endure lightning thrown onto her, but her body had changed, gotten tougher. It was solid muscle, but delicate and tall. She looked like she was made of glass, but tough glass. And she was beautiful. She glowed with a golden light like the man she was fighting. Her hair became a perfect mix of blonde and brown, natural looking. The fight waw magnificent. Zeus was obviously losing, even though he was the one armed with weaponry. The fight lasted for about five minutes, three more than either god expected. With a mighty yell, Zeus fell and was defeated. Panting, Chris extended a hand and said good- naturedly, "good fight, brother, but you should know better by now than to challenge me. I always win." Then immediately she summoned a piece of wood and knocked on it, using the old wives tale for luck and the prevention of jinxing what she just said.

With that behind them, Chris and Hermione, Chris back in the body that Hermione recognized, walked through the gates into Heaven and searched for the Granger's. Chris found them and said, "Hey, Hermione? Will you be all right for about an hour while I go visit a friend of mine? She's not very social, and keeps to herself a lot. I just want to pop in and say hey," Chris said, speaking very fast. Hermione saw her parents and waved Chris away as tears came to her eyes, saying that it would be fine. Chris saw the tears and, cursing herself once more for not paying close attention to the muggles, went to find Tara.

She went to the witch's house and knocked on the door. Since Tara was one of the people who opted for no robe most of the time, Chris didn't want to make her feel awkward, so she got rid of her clothing as well. Tara came and saw the goddess who she knew as a friend. They hugged in a place where there was no discrimination, where no one cared if someone was homosexual, or a witch, a place where people could be who they wanted to be. They were in Heaven, not just the place but the feeling. Chris gave Tara a quick kiss on the lips and said, "Hey, you," in a soft voice.

Tara returned the gesture and replied with a, "Hey, yourself. What's up? Are you going to bring me back? How will Willow respond to it? How is everyone doing after I left? I felt the darkness and knew it was Will, but I didn't know how to help, I..." She was cut off from the Willow- worthy babble session by Chris' finger to her lips.

"Shhh, stop being impatient and listen for a moment," Chris said in a voice full of teasing, knowing that the witch had been nothing but patient for the news ever since Chris had run the idea by her. "Listen, I've been keeping an eye on things, or if you rather, a mind, and there's another witch in London, a lesbian. She could help Will control the magic. No offense, Tara, you're great and all, but you have a soft spot for red. Nymphadora Tonks, or as she prefers, just Tonks, is an Auror. She can help Willow and won't back down if Will loses her temper like you did. Tonks is a sweet kid, she can help Wills out. But if you're alive..." Chris didn't want to finish the sentence, so Tara did it for her.

"I-if I'm alive then Willow won't want to be with this Tonks, right? She'll just want to be with me. So you aren't bringing me back?"

"Tara, I want to, trust me, I do, it's just that Will needs help, and Tonks is a wand witch. She and I can get Will a wand and train her to use it. Wands help with control, they require less control over emotion and focus than Wiccan magic does. I can't bring you back now, but I swear, if Willow isn't happy with Tonks after the training is through, you come back. She'll probably think that you're not real, but I can fix that. To the other question, honestly, everyone is afraid of Willow. That was dark mojo that she did, and almost ended the world with. It scared them to see black Will. God, Tara, you're lucky that you didn't see her. Black clothes, stylish, but nothing but black. Her eyes were solid black, her hair, every hair on her body, really, black. Not just like a dark brown, mind, but pure, evil, black. And there were black vein-y markings cut into her face. God, it was terrifying. And I was forbidden to help until she actually started the ritual to end the world, not just raising the temple, so Xander had to stop her." Chris shuddered and Tara pulled her close, hugging her and trying to make her forget her fright and the sight of a loved one risking his life and another in such a state as Willow was.

Chris snuggled into the embrace, wishing that Tara hadn't died so that Willow had stayed calm and in control. She checked the time and realized that she had to get Hermione, then talk to Dumbledore about getting the Scooby's over to England. Buffy would make a good teacher, Giles a good assistant, Anya a good librarian-her knowledge was very impressive if she would stop talking about orgasms all the time-, and the others could do various things. Her plan was to have Tonks and Willow share a room and have Tonks help Will control the magic in her while training her to use a wand in magic so that she gets less addicted. Hopefully they would figure out that they were both lesbians and hook up, but if they weren't happy with each other then Chris would be more than happy to bring Tara back. After Dumbledore made his decision, hopefully yes, she would bring the messages to the Scoobies in America and Willow in England. Then she'd go back to Hogwarts to tell Dumbledore the responses and do a quick sweep of the Forbidden Forest to keep the beasties(the real ones, not the students) at bay then head over to Tonks', get her response, bring it to Dumbledore, then return to-and stay with- Tonks for the night.

With that plan in her mind, she got her clothes, suspiciously shiny, back on and went to find Hermione. She found them and had them all say a tearful good-bye, then brought Hermione, clean and clothed, back to Harry's room and went off to speak to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

"Dumbledore!" Chris shouted, bursting into the office. "I found a Defense against the Dark Arts teacher for you! A Vampire Slayer that has been active for about six years now, living on a Hellmouth in Sunnydale, California, USA. She's awesome and doesn't believe in that whole, 'the slayer is alone and has no friends' crap! She has friends who have been assisting her for her reign and who are cool with the slayer thing. Actually, the whole group could be useful around here. The sister of Buffy, the slayer, is named Dawn, and was recently the Key. Y'know, the one to all dimensions. But we deactivated her, or rather, Glorificus, a goddess, one of the ones from a hell dimension, _god I wish she'd never been kicked out_" Chris muttered that last part under her breath. "Deactivated her. One of the group was very recently a vengeance demon known as Anyanka, and has been around for over one thousand years! Her knowledge of demons and events is vast, about as vast as yours. Xander Harris is just a human, but he has aided the slayer in more ways than I can count. He could be useful for Muggle Studies. The slayer and her sister's last name is Summers. Then there is a witch who recently lost control of her powers, a Wiccan named Willow Rosenberg. She has a massive power, nearly ended the world. Though Mr. Harris stopped her. I believe with a little training, perhaps from Nymphadora Tonks, she could be a powerful ally. And there is a Mr. Rupert Giles. He is also a wiccan, though not as powerful as Willow. He was a watcher before he was fired for caring about Buffy and would make a good assistant to her. Oh, and there's a vampire named Spike, A.K.A. William the Bloody, but contrary to what you are led to believe, he has a soul now and a chip that prevents him from doing harm to anyone."

Dumbledore wasn't sure what he was more surprised at, the fact that the information given to him was said in one breath or the fact that he understood it. He decided to clarify. "So you are saying that you found a DADA teacher. Don't speak, just nod or shake your head." Chris nodded. "And she is a slayer who has lasted for six years and works with friends?" Another nod. "She has friends that could help, the ex- vengeance demon formerly known as Anyanka, now Anya." nod again. "In addition, there is a muggle with amazing loyalty and bravery, a mister Xander Harris?" Nod. "A Rupert Giles, formerly a Watcher, now an associate slash friend of the slayer and a wiccan, and a wiccan known as Willow Rosenberg, whom recently tried to end the world, powerful witch she is, whom you want trained to a wand by Tonks so that she could be a powerful and less dangerous ally? Last but not least, William the Bloody, one of the Scourge of Europe, who is now ensouled and is good?" Chris nodded to all of the questions. "I see. Do you recommend them?"

"I do, Dumbledore. Buffy and Giles could teach the class, Xander could help with Muggle Studies, Anya could be a source of knowledge in the library. Spike could help Buffy in some of her lessons as well, though he has a bit of a cursing problem. He's met and fought many of the demons that Buffy would have them study, as well as the nicer creatures, plus he would defend Harry with his un-life. Dawn is really too old to be a student, but could perhaps help translate some of the more difficult books and help to weed out some of the less true ones, and Will could learn here, where if she loses control there are magical bindings keeping her here and from harming anyone. Plus she could help keep Harry safe, especially with Tonks here. And in addition, it could help Tonks gain credibility, helping an untrained witch learn. Do you see where I'm going with this?" Chris asked, this time taking breaths between sentences.

"Yes, but by my calculations we are two guest rooms short. Assuming that you will be in the room you have been occupying these past school years?"

"Yes, I will remain in Hogwarts to keep an eye on the terrible trio." They both laughed at the nickname that the staff had given Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Xander and Anya are in love and will share a room, and I think it best if Tonks and Willow share a room if they are going to be spending so much time together. It may work. If that doesn't work out, I can add another room to the Gryffindor common room and stay there, giving Will or Tonks a room alone." Dumbledore saw something in the girl's eye, but couldn't place it.

So he asked, "What are you planning, Chris?" Getting a nothing in reply, he sat back and wrote letters requesting the assistance of the Scoobies, much to the goddess' pleasure. As soon as he finished, she took them with the promise of immediate delivery and teleported out, to Dumbledore's surprise. Although he had seen it many times, it still surprised him that someone could get out of Hogwarts in a way that wasn't walking or flying. The powers of this girl were immense, that was for sure. Now if only someone besides she herself understood them.

The Summer's House, Sunnydale, CA

"Yo, everybody!! Chris shouted as she arrived, knowing that they all took a day off for quality together time and were chilling out in front of the TV. "Hello? Anyone wanna make some cash?" That brought the pack of them, minus Willow who was in England, rushing to her side.

"Watcha got there, Chris?" Xander asked, focusing mainly on the word cash. She flashed them a smile and handed them the letters that had just been written, assuring them all that they were safe. She watched as their faces changed. Anya and Giles recognized at least the name 'Dumbledore', Xander looked shocked, Dawn excited, and Buffy suspicious.

"Ok, what's going on here, Chris? This looks fishy, and I hate fish," Buffy said.

"Woah, whoa, it's a job offer to teach or do other things at a wizarding school called Hogwarts. It's in, um, Scotland, I guess. It's ok, I know all the teachers and it's a good place. They have a big bad and he's threatening the students, so we want you to go there and protect them, as well as teach them, Buff," Chris said. Then she turned to the Xan Man and added, "And we want you to teach the youngsters the finer points of living. TV, junk food, video games, that stuff. They were, for the most part, brought up as wizards, so they know very little about that stuff. The rest would be doing various things." She looked at them and added that she needed their response pretty much then.

They talked it over and decided that they would go. Chris was very excited, though she knew that they would agree, and went to Spike to let him decide. After threatening to eat "the little wizard bits", he agreed as well. Chris was glad that her plan was going well when she went to Willow and told her that she had the chance to be taught control by a different kind of witch, and Willow agreed to go after a slight hesitation.

Chris told their answers to Dumbledore and went into the forest in high spirits, forgetting about Hagrid's pet spiders. One of them attacked her and she fought it off, then another and another, and soon she had to teleport out of the forest and ended up in Tonks' apartment, in her room, as it was fairly late.

Tonks took one look at her and dropped the book she was reading.

"Chris! Love, what happened to you?" She asked, rushing to the girl's side.

"Hello to you to," Chris replied with a small grin.

"Wotcher, of course, now what happened? Here, come sit on the bed, I can magic away the blood on the comforter later. Oh God!" She said when she saw all of the blood, coming from both the girl's shoulder, back, and head, to name a few places. "Will you think that I'm shamelessly flirting if I ask you to take off your shirt?"

"Yeah, but since I know that you aren't, I'll do it anyway. Or better yet, since I can't move my arms, can you do it?" Chris was teasing with the first part, but showed her seriousness in the second by trying and failing to move her arm. She watched Tonks blush as she pulled the blood-caked shirt off to reveal a spaghetti strap tank top underneath, also blood-soaked. She then watched as Tonks peeled this off as well, the blush turning to paleness quickly as the shirt came off, revealing the torn flesh.

Tonks looked on in horror as she saw the blood well up out of the wounds and cover her friend's back. She took out her wand and, in a shaking voice, said, "Reparo!" This closed the wounds most of the way, repairing the worst of the damage and stopping all of the bleeding. The wound on Chris' head was completely closed, since it was very shallow, and all of the minor injuries were healed. She looked on in relief as she saw all of this happening, and when it all looked better, she leaned on Chris' shoulder, sighing in relief as it all looked better.

Chris grabbed her shirts, repaired and cleaned them, put them on, then turned and hugged Tonks, thanking her over and over and explaining that Hagrid's spiders had caught her with a wandering mind and attacked. "One was easy, two harder, then the whole lot of them damn near impossible to beat. They swarmed me and kept catching bits of me. They finally caught up with me and one bit me in the shoulder, another clawed me deeply in the back, and another grazed my head with whatever they use as teeth. I finally got enough sense in me to teleport out of there, and I was going to come here anyway, so I just came." She laughed and said, "If you see Hagrid before me, tell him that if those spiders so much as look at me funny one more time I'm going to set fire to their little nest and burn the little suckers to kingdom come, will you?" It was a joke, and Tonks knew it, so they both started laughing at it.

Now that the catastrophe was over, Chris mentioned that there was a wiccan witch who needed training, and since the other Aurors were busy, maybe Tonks would be willing to teach her how to use a wand. Chris added that she would get to go back to Hogwarts. Tonks agreed, and Chris popped over to Hogwarts long enough to tell Dumbledore that Tonks was in and to threaten Hagrid and his spiders. Then she went back to Tonks' place and snuggled into the bed with her, hugging her from behind. This muggle-born wasn't about to get hurt, Chris was sure of that.

Tara looked down in sadness, watching Chris kiss the back of Tonks' head lightly, holding her in her arms. Tar swore to herself that if this Tonks hurt Willow in any way that wasn't related to her training, she would pay.

ok, that's it for now. I tried to make it longer than the others. Review please??? Oh, before anyone asks, there are some parts in here that you are not really meant to understand, but should be explained right after the confusing part. Anything you wanna say, just review or e-mail. There are may listed up above. And I changed my parings around a lot, so to clear it all up, the pairings so far are Xander/Anya, Willow/Tonks, Buffy/Spike, Giles/no one, Draco/Dawn. And my character never gets attached to anyone in this. Since Buffy is straight with non-slayers and Giles is too old. Right, to clear up something, she can change her age, so she appears to everyone as the age that they would treat equal. To the terrible trio, or dynamic duo, as it will soon be, she's 16. To the Scoobies and Tonks, she's 21 or 22, they're all the same age. 'Cept for Giles. If she's with the whole group of Hogwarts, then she's around 19 or 20. Same with just Dumbledore alone.

The next chapter will bring them all together and will get rid of Weasley.

Peace


	4. going to Hogwarts

I forgot to apologize last chapter for being so slow on the update. There was a lot going on with Track and then my teachers got really down on all of us, stressing us out for finals. Then, as the icing on the cake, I'm a freshman, and the last day of classes, a Friday, the day after prom, review day, day before the weekend before hell, a freshman died. Prom night. In his sleep. While the prommers were dancing. And they told us. In school. While studying for finals. In class. And they made us stay. All day. Sorry, that was a bit...um... chopped. It was just sad, he was cool. And he had been playing softball just the day before, with people telling him they were gonna kill him with the bat if he didn't shut up and stop distracting them. Another said he wished the kid would die. They prolly feel terrible, and can't do a damn thing about it.  
Wow, that looks really long now, it didn't seem that way before, but anyway, I apologize for anyone that may have read this and maybe enjoyed it. It's holiday of summer now, so hopefully I can get a lot done. Around work and volleyball, that is. Lol.  
  
Spoilers: yes, there are. HP up to and including OotP, BtVS up to and finishing S6, tara death season if that's not it.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own nothing that isn't mine, which includes the characters that belong to Rowling and Whedon.  
  
Pairings: after thinking and thinking, I figured it out with what I said to a reviewer earlier and what I planned. Harry & Hermione, Willow & Tonks, Buffy & Spike, Dawn & Draco(who is a good guy), Giles & McGonagall, maybe, depends, And Xander & Anya. Forget what happened, they did the broken wedding, then when Anya un-demonified, she got back with Xander. I love this, I can change it, and people can complain, but I can't be sued, and I'm knocking on wood now. Lol!  
  
All right? On with the story, then!!  
  
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Chris woke up early and looked down at the Auror in her arms, smiling. If she didn't love her so much as a friend, she would be her girlfriend, but Chris didn't want to spoil their friendship. 'Well, that and I have a boyfriend that would be crazy if he knew that I was a bisexual. Oh God! I forgot to call him!' She checked the link that she had hooked up to him and found him safe, alive, and in a deep sleep. She smiled, relieved.  
Tonks, who had been preventing Chris from rising by using her arm as a pillow, woke up to a smiling face, and gave a smile of her own, thinking, 'all mornings should start like this.' With that she leaned up and brushed her lips against Chris' cheek, saying in a breathy voice, "wotcher, Chris," which earned her a grin and a slight shake of the head at the weird saying. No one knew why Tonks said 'Wotcher', it was just her thing. And it was adorable, in Chris' eyes.  
Chris sighed and said, "We have to go to Hogwarts now. The group that is coming in is coming today, some by my help, and your charge by Kingsley Shacklebolt. I just hope that he doesn't do the MIB thing to her." They giggled, knowing that he always did the Men In Black thing, it was just him.  
  
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wherever Willow was  
  
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Willow waited nervously for the person who was supposed to pick her up, wondering who it was going to be. Certainly not some one that she knew, they were all in California. It was probably someone from this Wizarding Community, coming to bring her to the school. She couldn't believe that she had never been picked up on the magic radar, and had to suffer because of it. It almost made her go dark again, but she knew better. She knew that she had to control her emotions no matter what. No more dark places for her.  
As she thought these things, she noticed that a large black car, no decorations, totally plain, hade pulled up, and a tall black man was getting out of it. He was wearing a black and white tuxedo, and sun glasses that looked suspiciously like Ray-Bans. He looked over at her and her bags and said in a deep voice, "Willow Rosenburg?" At her speechless nod he continued with, "By the order of Albus Dumbledore I have been ordered to take you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."  
Willow just blinked in a dazed way and nodded, quietly. Kingsley picked up her bags and loaded them into the car that was bigger inside than it was outside, and Willow could feel magic in it, but a different kind of magic. Not wiccan, but an unknown. She shrugged, made a mental note to ask someone about it later, and got into the car as the tall, dark skinned man held the door open for her and eyed her nice figure appreciatively before remembering that the little goddess had told him that she was gay. 'Damn,' he thought. 'Oh well, better luck next time.' With that thought, he drove them to Hogsmead, where they were to meet Chris, and perhaps Tonks. He wasn't too sure what was up with Tonks going, but he wanted to know.  
  
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Sunnydale, CA  
  
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"All right, where is she?" Buffy asked, pacing impatiently in front of her bags and making the others a little dizzy with her actions. "She said she'd be here at ten, and it's... Giles, what time is it?" She asked, realizing that she didn't know what time it was.  
"It's nine fifty, Buffy, she still has ten minutes before she's scheduled to come. The real question is, why is Spike coming with us?" The blonde vampire was starting to get on his nerves, talking about how he had been to Hogwarts before and was therefore more important than the rest of the Scoobies, only he was saying it in more words and repeatedly.  
"Hey slay-gal extraordinaire. Looking for me?" Chris asked, hearing the impatience in the slayer's voice and knowing that she had to show up soon.  
"Where were you? You only had five minutes to show up!" Buffy said, letting the girl know that she didn't appreciate having to wait.  
"Oh I must be shot. I was early, and didn't keep my usual habit of being late. Come on, enough griping and yelling at me, I overslept and just woke up. Grab hold of the bags and some part of me-above the belt" she added as she saw a look come into Spike's eye. "Ok, let's go. I have another person to bring over as well." With that she took the Scoobies over to Hogwarts, left them in the entrance hall, telling Spike to bring them to the Great Hall since he knew the place, and went to get Tonks.  
  
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Hogwarts %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
"She just left us here with captain peroxide? How does she know that he knows his way around this place? How does she know he remembers?" Xander asked, getting worried.  
"Chill out, brave heart," Spike sneered at the name. "It's over this way, to the right. She knows because she brought me over a while ago when it was empty to see if I remembered my way around. I went when I was a little kid, I was... actually, I was in Ravenclaw, the smart house. Anyway, I was head boy in my time and got more than a little familiar with the whole castle, the passages out of it, and all of the rooms, even the ones that disappear. Really isn't that hard to navigate once you know your way around. Come on, you lot, this is the great hall, with a great amount of food. If we get hungry later on, I can lead us to the kitchens." Spike concluded, leading the group to the hall and showing a passion for something that didn't have to do with killing or women.  
They met with Albus, who explained what they were to do, then showed them all to their rooms. Buffy, Giles, Dawn, and Spike each got their own room, with a cozy den and bathroom attached, with a bathtub that made Buffy weak at the knees. Xander and Anya shared a room, and it was basically the same, except that there were two beds. They grinned wickedly at this and chilled out in the den-like room, equipped with a fireplace, comfy couch, and a few chairs, as all of the others were. There was also a desk and a few books.  
Each room was decorated differently. Buffy had a beautiful red color to the bedroom, a blood red, with some gold and silver mixed in. The bathroom was a sky blue, and the den was a deep midnight blue. She had a small training room attached to her bedroom, filled with every weapon that she could possibly dream of. Giles had a green-ish color to his room, a color that went from green to blue or to a purple, depending on how you look at it. His whole apartment was really that color. He had a huge library attached to his room, one to rival the one that he had at home even. Dawn had a comfy room that was a deep burgundy color. She had a small room with witchcraft tools attached, and a stick that felt like it was hers. It looked like a magic wand, but it couldn't be, she thought that they were just what muggle magicians used to impress children. She decided to question it later.  
Spike's quarters were decorated in the colors of Ravenclaw, dark blue and bronze. He loved the colors and loved the feel of being in Hogwarts again. It always felt like home to him, only now he didn't have to share his room. He never could stand the idiots that he shared the dormitory with. They all had a cabinet in their room that gave them things that they asked for, like hot chocolate and cookies. They all settled into their rooms after coming up with passwords into the rooms that they lived in. Buffy's was 'Angel', Spike's was 'Rowena', Giles was 'Calendar', Dawn's was 'Key', and Xander and Anya came up with 'love nest'.  
  
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Tonks' apartment  
  
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"Tonks," Chris called out, looking for her. "Hey, come on, love. We have to meet Kingsley at Hogsmead. The Three Broomsticks has great drinks, you know that. Where are you, Tonks?" Chris was getting frustrated, not finding the Auror anywhere. She had checked everywhere but the bedroom. Suddenly, the girl got a wicked grin on her face and went into the room, not making a noise, where she found the morphmagus packing and looking down.  
Chris snuck up behind her and put her arms around her waist from behind, whispering, "Hey, you," into Tonks' ear. Tonks jumped, tensed, recognized the voice, and settled down, leaning back into the embrace. "All right, why are you nervous? I can smell it on you from a kilometer away," Chris asked, worried.  
"It's just... what if the girl doesn't like me? What if I can't help her? And we're sharing a room. What if things get tense? Where would I go, Chris?" Tonks started getting upset, so Chris comforted her with a soothing, "shh." Tonks leaned back more and enjoyed the feel of her friend against her tight back, feeling the muscles in her body relax.  
"Tonks, if things get bad, you can come to me like you did when we were in Hogwarts. Remember? I'll give you the password into my room and show you where it is, and if there's a problem or if you feel like you just have to get away, come in with me and we can chill out. Ok?"Tonks nodded and smiled, remembering how comforting her friend had been in Hogwarts when things had gotten rough. "It's hard for Willow to not like anyone unless you're not nice to her or, like, discriminate against her for her life choices or for being Jewish or something. Since you wouldn't do that, just be yourself and she'll like you. And not Auror Nymphadora Tonks you, but just plain old Tonks that's here now with me. You have to believe that you can help her, otherwise you can't. Ok?" Tonks nodded, feeling better. Within a few minutes they were ready to go, and Chris brought them to the pub, where Kingsley and Willow were waiting and drinking a butter beer.  
Kingsley spotted the two and waved them over, grinning at the bright shade of purple that Tonks had decided that her hair was going to be at the moment, the grinned even more as she changed it to blue at Chris' request, who loved the color on her. Kingsley cleared his throat and asked Chris what she wanted him to do, which, as it turned out, was to leave. He took off in his car, leaving the three alone to get familiar with each other. Chris introduced them with a, "Tonks, this is Willow Rosenberg, the wiccan I told you about. Will, this is Nymphadora Tonks, or just Tonks, since she seems to hate the name Nymphadora." They both blushed slightly and shook hands. Then they paid for the drinks and went up to the castle, where Chris showed them to their room. "Sorry about having to double you up, but we were out of rooms."  
"There are, like, six other guest rooms in this castle. Who else is here?" asked Tonks, who was pretty familiar with the castle.  
"Just a few additions to the staff and helpers and stuff," Chris was vague on purpose, knowing that Willow would get nervous if she knew that her friends were around. "Ya know what? I'm starved. I'm gonna go grab chow from the kitchen. Oh, right. Before I forget. You can change the color of the room by thinking about what you want. And Will, there's a surprise for you in the bedroom. Might surprise you as well, Tonks. See ya!" With a growl from her stomach she ran out of the room.  
"Think she wanted us to be alone?" Tonks asked, raising her eyebrow at the hasty departure. The room turned red as she started to blush at the ideas that may have gone through Chris' head.  
"I think she might have been dropping that clue, but maybe she really was hungry," Willow said, turning a shade of light pink at the sight of Tonks blushing. She didn't know why, but she felt a sort of connection with the Auror, and it looked like they were around the same age.  
"Er, Willow?" Willow looked at her. "Do you see that cabinet over there?" She gestured at the cabinet and Will nodded her head. "Well, it gives the opener anything that they want, like food, drink, a pillow, stuff like that." She hastily added the part about the food on as she realised that it could have been taken another way. She quickly turned away from the red head as she turned even redder in embarrassment. She silently scolded herself for not having more control over her blushing.  
Willow looked on in interest as the spiky haired girl blushed and turned away. She didn't know why, but for some reason Will just wanted to hold her in her arms and hug her until she wasn't embarrassed any more. She controlled the urge since they had just met and she didn't want to scare Tonks away. She just looked around the room and wandered around, looking at everything, and eventually made it into the bathroom, where she gasped in amazement. Tonks heard her and went in to see what was wrong, and found a room bigger than the one that the prefects got. "Wow," Willow said, her eyes widening slightly. "This is huge! That tub is big enough to be a swimming pool!"  
Tonks laughed a little at the wiccan's amazement and grinned, saying, "Yeah, I never got to be in a room this big. I was a prefect, one of the best students in my class," she added, seeing Willow's questioning look. "And we had a bigger room than the ones the other students used, but never one this big, and I always had to share with 7 others, not just one." She looked over at Willow and grinned, adding, "and they were all hogs. They would spread themselves out in the tub and use all of the hot water. Never respected me because I could do anything with my hair or face while they had to work for it. Bitches, really." Tonks had a bitter look on her face, remembering the hard times that she'd had in school because she was born with an extra advantage.  
Willow saw the look and walked over to Tonks. She gently laid a hand on the other woman's arm, reassuring her in a way. Tonks gave a questioning look, and Willow just said, "It's not fair, is it? Not fair that because you could change at will and they couldn't, they were mean and shut you out." Tonks was amazed that this red-head, who she'd known for all of half an hour, could get her so fast. Willow cleared her throat, uncomfortable with the look that Tonks was giving her, and said, "Chris said that there is a surprise in the bedroom for us. Wanna go check it out?"  
Tonks nodded, and they walked out of the room, Willow removing her hand. They walked into the bedroom, of which there was only one, with two beds, of course. They had no idea that Chris was watching them, invisible. They took a look around, each looking a different way. Willow saw a portrait of a blonde haired woman with blue eyes. She went to take a closer look, and gasped when she recognised the person. 'T-Tara!"  
  
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Sorry, y'all. I'll have the next bit of this up shortly. Don't worry. Sorry about the rant session earlier, as well. Totally uncalled for. Hope you enjoy this, and I'll be back soon. Till then, peace! 


	5. surprises and planning

See? I told you that this would be a quick update. Two in a day, right? Unless anyone wants me to continue with the other fic, goddess, I'll just pull it totally. No big deal. Ok, so the last list of pairings was right. B/S, W/Tonks, H/H, D/D, G/M, Chris/many. She's not a slut, it's just that she has a bf in the states and a few best friends that she's really close to. His name is Doug. This is his story.(Sorry, had to. Charlie's Angel's fan.) Seriously, this focuses on Will and Tonks a lot, but also on Buffy being the DADA teacher and a fight. If you're not comfortable with female on female action, stop reading. It doesn't get descriptive much, but if like a kiss would make you run in discomfort then stop and read elsewhere. Capish?  
  
BlackCat200: had to kill her off, sorry. Tara would have interfered with Tonks, but she's still there in a way. All of the people who die are with the ones who loved them, in their hearts. Plus... well, you'll see. grin. Thanx for the review.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own what's not mine and what belongs to Rowling and Whedon. Dig?  
  
Spoilers: AU, totally. BtVS S6 after it happened. After OotP.  
  
Any questions?(rhetorical, of course.) Like usual, parts separated by %%%%, thoughts in '...', that stuff. On with the story!!  
  
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Willow gasped, "Tara?!" Tonks heard from the sound of her voice that she was either going to pass out or faint. Chris was worried, but left them alone to see what would happen. Tonks ran over, put her hand on Willow's back, and looked at the portrait that had the wiccan so flustered and pale. She immediately turned pale as well when she saw it, muttering, "Tara. It's really you. I can't believe it." Willow looked on in shock as the portrait waved at them, giving them a sad look and ducking it's head underneath a wave of blonde hair. Willow and Tonks both realised that the other knew the girl and asked in unison, "How do you know Tara?" Then they both laughed a little, weakly, as they realised that they had just done that in unison.  
Willow answered, "I just got out of a relationship with her a few months ago. She died in my arms, shot by a psycho muggle with a gun."  
Tonks went pale when she heard this and said, "Sh-she's dead? Oh god, why did she die? She was one of the only girls in school that was my friend." The two women looked at each other and fell into each other's arms, crying.  
Chris decided that it was enough and came out of the corner, apologising. "I'm sorry, you guys. I thought that you would like seeing her, not that it would upset you. Will, Tonks, you know that I wouldn't hurt y'all on purpose. I'll take it down soon." Chris was close to tears at the obvious pain that she had caused her friends, and they saw it and held out their arms for a three-way hug. Chris joined them and said, "She misses you, and if I could, I would bring her back. There are just things that are preventing it."  
Willow gave her a look and said, "I know. Like the fact that the Urn of Osiris is gone? Or that I can't risk that big of a spell again?"  
"No, the fact that Zeus is a little protective of his charges, and she's one of his favorites. I would be fl... ah, sh... ah, erm, stabbed. Yes, I would be stabbed to death if I brought her back now," Chris was babbling, but the two witches were used to it, so they could make sense of it, though Tonks didn't get why she changed what her fate would be. Chris had done it because she didn't want to bring up bad memories in Willow. Flaying is what she did to Tara's murderer. Shooting is what happened to her love. Chris thought that stabbing was safe, and she was right. And they could all see the gratitude in Willow's eyes as she realised what the goddess had done for her.  
"Thanks," the red head whispered so that only Chris could hear her. They broke the hug as they smelled a delicious smell coming from the den. "Mmmm, what is that, that, beautiful smell?" Willow asked as she caught a whiff of something.  
"Oh, you mean my new perfume?" Chris asked, joking. "Eau de demon?" Willow smacked her on the arm lightly as Tonks laughed at the joke.  
"So, we get room service now, do we?" Tonks asked, she too smelling the food.  
"Wha- oh, yeah. Everyone else ate, and I mentioned that I was hungry, so the elves figured you were as well, and sent up a huge meal. Better hurry down or I might end up eating it all." With that Chris left the two witches looking stunned for a moment, then they came to their senses and chased their friend, finding her standing over a huge feast with a starved look in her eyes. She looked at them with an apologetic look in her eyes, and said to Willow, "Sorry, but I was out slaying, and I have the same problem as the slayers."  
Willow looked confused for a moment, then thought back to something that Faith had said. She got a look of realisation in her eye, then a look of shock, then she burst out laughing. Tonks had no clue what was going on, so she turned to Willow and asked what the joke was. Willow said, "after a good fight, the slayer, the one who I wasn't that close to, commented on it. She said, her exact words, 'after a good slay I just get hungry and horny'.(ok, not the exact quote, but I don't feel like going back to all of the Faith episodes to find the exact quote.) I think that Chris is saying that she's hungry." Tonks took a minute to think about what Willow had just said, then her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she realised the second part.  
Chris, on the other hand, was not amused. "Hey, I am in the room here. And Tonks, you stop thinking that right now. But you're right, it's why I'm so affectionate when I come to see you at night." Tonks blushed a deep red when that was announced.  
Willow raised her eyebrow, but asked if anyone was hungry. She was met with two responses. She stopped Chris from attacking the food just long enough for her and Tonks to get a heaping plate each, then they watched in amazement and amusement as the girl attacked the food, devouring everything in sight. Tonks looked over to Willow to see her reaction, and noticed that she wasn't as surprised as she was. She gave Willow a questioning look, and Willow, seeing Tonks' look, said, "I lived with a slayer for a year. I'm used to the amount of food that they consume. Chris isn't a slayer, but has the metabolism and stomach of one." With that, Willow lost interest and dug into her own meal. Tonks gave one last look at Chris and followed suit. Soon all three were full and content, and they all decided to do their own thing for a while.  
"Hey, Tonks, wanna come and see where my room is located so that if there's a problem you know where to find me?"  
"Yeah, sure. As long as it's not too far to walk." Tonks grinned and got up with a groan.  
Chris looked at her and laughed, saying, "It's just down the hall, if you and your huge full belly can handle that."  
"Her huge belly?!" Willow asked with a guffaw. "Who's the one who ate half the food? Sure wasn't Tonks or me." At this Chris grinned sheepishly.  
She led Tonks out of the room with the promise to Willow that they'd be back soon, and led her 5 paintings down, and stopped outside of it. She said, "the password is crazy train." The door opened to reveal a room done in a musician's design. All over the room were different instruments- guitars, both electric and acoustic, basses, drums, flutes(silver, gold, gold mouth piece), piccolos(wood, plastic, metal), tuners were scattered carelessly around. And amplifiers were located in various places around the room. There was music all over as well, from tablature taken from the computer to books to sheet music. Tonks laughed at the posters, which were either of bands or guitar chords. Or really hot guitars. And guitarists. Chris heard the laugh and grinned, leading the Auror over to her CD collection, which ranged from Ozzy to classical music. With many soundtracks thrown in, of course. Tonks was in heaven, a lover of music herself.  
Chris said, "well, now you know the password and what it's like in here. The bedroom is up the stairs, so if there's a problem..."  
"Got it, I know where to find you." Tonks grinned and took off, as she left she heard a voice-British in sound- singing, "I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train! Yeah I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train!"(Ozzy Osbourne, Crazy Train).  
  
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Willow and Tonks' room  
  
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Tonks went into hers and Willow's den and sat on one of the couches, leaning back and closing her eyes. She heard Willow come down the stairs and asked what was up.  
"The picture is gone. Chris removed Tara's picture. Th...that's the one that's gone. It-it's a good thing, right? I mean, seeing her, I could go over the edge again and get all evil and I could hurt you o-o-or-or Chris or one of the others. Not just you, n-not just hurt you but maybe destroy the world or kill someone or..." Tonks silenced her with a finger to the lips, and though she was flustered, Willow couldn't help but notice how soft Tonks' skin was.  
'God, I would love to stop that babble with my lips if I could. If that didn't mean that I might scare her away, I would, but it would, so I won't. Besides, it's kind of sexy.' She saw that Willow had calmed down and she laughed a little, moving her finger.  
"Sorry about that. Just that when I get flustered about something, then I babble, which gets me more flustered, which... hey!" she said as she saw Tonks start laughing. 'Wow, she's kind of cute when she laughs and smiles... No! Bad Willow! Besides, she's probably straight.' The two women looked at each other and started laughing, having that effect on each other.  
  
Meanwhile, Chris was laying in her own den, absently playing a song on one of her electric guitars, one that looked like Clapton's Blackie, but in blue. She was thinking about Tara and the days that she and Tonks spent at Hogwarts with the girl. After Tonks' girlfriend cheated on her with a guy(damn Ravenclaw) Tara was there to comfort when she heard what happened. Eventually they started dating, but when Tara's parents were killed and she was forced to live with a couple in America who forced her to call them father and brother, they never saw each other again. She thought about how devastated they both were, but how they eventually forgot each other. Unfortunately, it happened after they finished school, so it was never discovered that Tara was abused.  
No one was really sure why Tara was in Gryffindor, she seemed like she wasn't brave enough or that loyal, but when she stood by Tonks no matter what anyone said to her, it proved her loyalty, and later when she stood up to Willow and told her off for using magic, standing strong, it was bravery that not many have. And leaving Willow took even more courage. Once Chris had seen that she knew beyond a doubt that Tara was a true Gryffindor. Chris moved the portrait to Tonks' flat in London, knowing that it wouldn't be in use for a while.  
Chris knew that she should probably go to the Scooby meeting in Buffy's room, but she thought for a little longer, switching to playing an Avril song as she thought more about Tara and whether she was doing the right thing, pairing Tonks and Willow up.  
  
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Buffy's Room  
  
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"I think that we have to get as ready as possible for this, guys," Buffy said, getting into the teaching spirit, knowing that in this fight it wasn't just her and her friends at stake here, it was the whole school. "I want to cover vampires, demons, and slayers in class, along with fighting techniques to defeat them. Giles, how does that sound?"  
"Hmm? Oh, yes, very good, Buffy," Giles said, looking surprised that his slayer was getting into this.  
"Spike, how about you doing curses and blocking them?"  
"Gotcha slayer," Spike said enthusiastically. He couldn't wait to teach in the place that he once called home, and even had his wand with him.  
"With fighting techniques, how about you and I demonstrate, since we know each other's moves and style?"  
"That works. And teaching, we alternate lessons? First lesson's yours, then next time we have that class it's mine, and on like that?" Spike suggested, getting into it.  
"OK, that works as well."  
"I will familiarize myself with the library and librarian so that I can perform my job flawlessly," said Anya in her blunt way, wanting to get the money. No one noticed Chris slip in.  
"And I'll get to know the Muggle Studies teacher and figure out a plan," said Xander, who didn't want to be sitting around with nothing to do.  
"I guess that I'll get to know the library and start weeding out the true books from the false," said Dawn. Then she added to Giles and Buffy, "I'll need to know your plan so that I can get what you have planned done so that the students aren't learning fake things from the books."  
"Better let me come with you to the library, Dawnie," Chris said, spooking everyone. "Otherwise the librarian, Madame Pince, will be suspicious of you snooping around."  
"Thanks. Want to meet after breakfast to go there?" Dawn asked.  
"After you finish, there's a picture of a wizard holding a large guitar on the second floor. Knock on that. I get up late and the elves have breakfast there for me so that I don't get all grumpy going down two floors. I'll be there, okay?" Dawn nodded.  
"Hey, I'm beat, let's go to bed," said Xander. Everyone agreed.  
Chris stopped Xander and Anya and told them that if they wanted the beds together they could push them close then say 'join' out loud, and two twin sized beds would turn into a king sized bed. To un- join them, get off the bed and say 'part' and it would return to the original 2 beds. With a wicked grin, the two thanked Chris and bade her goodbye.  
Chris went back to her room and put a mixed cd with a bunch of soft songs on it into her cd player that she charmed to play even in the high magic atmosphere of Hogwarts. She fell asleep with the sound of Eric Clapton in her ears.  
  
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12 Grimmauld Place  
  
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Harry called Ron over and started to tell him about him and Hermione, almost going crazy when he saw Ron admiring Hermione's body.  
"Ron," Harry started. "Hermione met up by accident a few days ago right after her parents were killed. My cousin was beating up on her, and I stopped it."  
"Yeah, so?"  
"We went back to my place and I took care of her, and she was upset, so we hugged, and we both said that we cared about each other, but each meant that the other meant only as a friend." Harry was finding it really hard to say what he wanted, and Ron staring at his girlfriend's chest wasn't helping.  
"Where are you going with this, mate?" Ron asked.  
"Ron, we kissed, and told each other that we, well, that we love each other," Hermione said, lacing her fingers with Harry's for comfort.  
"Well, it was just an accident, right? I mean, you're mates, you don't really feel that way, right?" Ron was getting mad at the thought of Harry taking the one girl that he was really in love with, and his ears gave that away.  
"Ron, I know how you feel about her, but-well, we fell asleep together. Not doing anything, but just holding each other. The first time in ages that either of us got a peaceful sleep." Harry saw Ron getting mad and stepped forward, putting himself between Hermione and Ron. "It felt right."  
With that, Ron exploded, and they could hear him all through the house. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" he asked, turning scarlet, his voice thundering. "YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CARE FOR HER!! WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, EH?"  
"Ron, please, we d-didn't mean to hurt you..." Hermione began, grabbing onto Harry's hand for comfort while seeing Ron's hand raise in a fist to hit Harry.  
"YOU BLOODY NUT! I'LL TEACH YOU TO STEAL MY..." as he was about to hit Harry, Fred apparated and caught Ron's fist.  
"That's enough, Ron," Fred snapped, holding his little brother's arms so that he couldn't hit Harry.  
"HE STOLE HERMIONE!" Ron yelled at his brother, then got loose and went to hit Fred.  
As his fist came close to his brother, George came our of no where and tackled Ron, sitting on his chest, while Fred came over and sat on his legs, effectively pinning him. "Now listen, dear brother," George said to his angered younger brother. "Hermione was never yours. Harry took her because you never showed your feelings." They saw that Ron had calmed and let him up, ready to pounce again if he started to look threatening.  
Ron started running from the house, calling his trunk, which came with his cloak and broom. Harry made a move to go after him, but Fred just said, "Let him go, Harry." George added, "Yeah, he needs to learn to cool his temper. If he can't do it here..." "Let him do it out there," Fred finished.  
Hermione pulled down on Harry's arm, making him sit with her. "I guess you're right," Harry said. "How can we thank you for saving us?"  
"You are our source of money, no need to thank us, mate," said Fred.  
"Yeah, plus, we did it because you have enough nutters after your blood, you don't need our git of a brother beating on you as well," said George. "Now, if that's through with, I think mum's got dinner ready for us."  
Everyone grinned and went down to dinner, where Mrs. Weasley was upset but not entirely surprised to learn that her youngest son had run off. She commented that Harry and Hermione made a very nice couple, and they all sat down to eat, Harry and Hermione had their hands linked the entire time under the table.  
  
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AN: whew, that's done. I'm sorry to you Ron lovers, but he's a git and I just don't like him. He's too jealous and didn't trust Harry when he said he didn't enter himself in the Triwizard Tournament. This is a bit long, but next chapter is focusing mostly on Scooby activity and getting ready for Hogwarts by Ginny, Harry, and Hermione. There are a few mentions of Ron here, but he's mostly ignored, plays a pretty much non-existent part here. Besides, he's annoying. There are 2 chapters 'cuz I got a job now and it's gonna take up 2 or 3 days a week. It took me all this time to write this and the last chapter, I swear I wasn't ignoring you. If anyone wonders about the music stuff, I have a keyboard, more tabs and sheets and books than I can count, a blue guitar that does look like Blackie, 2 acoustics, 1 lefty and 1 righty, a keyboard, 2 flutes 1is my mom's, both silver, 1 is an open holed, a piccolo that is both metal and plastic, and quite a few tuners. Most of the music I listen to is really my aunts, she has a great collection, and the posters I have, courtesy of my aunt. Oh, there are 3 cd players in the house and 1 small amp that packs a sweet punch. I think that's about it. I hope everyone likes this so far, all three of you.  
Peace 


	6. shopping, starting, and death eaters

Well, thanks to anyone who reads. Here's another chapter, I think it'll focus mostly on Scoobys getting ready and students getting their stuff from Diagon Alley. And that can be eventful hint hint. Especially with a new store open up.  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own what belongs to Rowling and/or Whedon. From the last chapter, I own none of the artists or their names. And though I wish I did, I don't own Blackie.(tear). I think I own my own thoughts, but I may be wrong in thinking that I own what I think, I think.(sorry, I just always wanted to do that!)  
  
Pairings: W/T, B/S, D/D, X/A. H/Hr, G/M, C/D(who doesn't really appear here.)  
  
Spoilers: events up to S6 of BtVS, OotP in HP. Totally AU.  
  
Warning: this does have a f/f pairing. If you don't dig it, don't read, ya dig?  
  
Thoughts in '...", part separation in %%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
on with it, then!!  
  
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13 Grimmauld place  
  
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"Harry! Wake up, sweetie," Hermione said, trying to wake her boyfriend up from a deep sleep. He was thrashing about a bit, and she was starting to get worried.  
"NO! Sirius, I'll save you!" Harry said as he finally reacted to Hermione's touch and woke up. She saw that he was still upset about the death and hugged him, feeling him shaking beneath her touch. She just held him until he calmed down, then took his hand and led him downstairs.  
"Well, look who showed up," said Fred.  
"And with his girlfriend. Is there a reason that you two are late that you don't want to share with us?" added George, just to see the two turn red, which they did.  
"It took forever to get Harry up, he was in a pretty deep sleep," Hermione explained, a very interesting shade of red.  
"Did Ron come home at all last night?" asked Harry, just to change the subject.  
"No, he owled us and said that as long as we kept in contact from you he would stay away from the family," Mrs. Weasley answered, coming into the room bearing breakfast for Harry and Hermione. "And speaking of owls, the Hogwarts letters came with your O.W.L. results just a few moments ago."  
They opened the letters and noticed the usual front page, followed by the list of books that they need. The list came with a third page containing their results.  
"Hey! I got an O in potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Charms! And an E in History of Magic and Astronomy. Only and A in Divination, better than I thought I'd get." Harry announced, looking proud. He looked at his girlfriend with a questioning look and asked what she got.  
"O in potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defense, and Charms. E in everything else. Hey, that means that we can go into the classes needed for whatever fields we want. I think that we have to take a magical healing class and you have to take a class for disguise and stealth, Harry," she said. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life, but she wanted to take the healing class so that if Harry ever got hurt she could take care of him and not risk losing him. She took the stealth class as well so that she could help him with whatever weird situation he managed to get himself into this year. She gave him a hug that lasted a long time, to the amusement of the Weasley's and Lupin, who happened to come into the room at the moment.  
Lupin cleared his throat and said, "Yes, well..." The two broke apart, blushing profusely. "Let's get the books that you need, eh? Molly and I will accompany you two to the Alley, Tonks has other business to attend to."  
"Like what?" Harry asked, curious.  
"Something that Chris asked her to do. All I can say is that if they want you to know, you'll know." Lupin was being vague because he didn't even know, all he knew was that Chris had asked Tonks to do something, and that, save Dumbledore, none of the order knew what it was about.  
"All right, enough talking, let's floo over to the Leaky Cauldron," Molly said, clapping her hands, seeing that the two were done with their meal.  
"We have a requirement for a book on weapons and a set of clothes that we can fight and move in," said Hermione, looking at the list. "The clothes may have to come from Muggle London. The rest is pretty basic stuff, there's a notice that someone will be in the Library checking books for fact for the year, so we shouldn't bug them." She exchanged a look with Harry, knowing that it meant that if they needed to research something there might be someone there reading over their shoulder or something.  
They went to Diagon Alley, partly hoping that they would see Ron and convince him to come home. They went into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and were shocked to see what was in the store.  
"Bloody Hell!" Exclaimed, of all people, Hermione. Harry gave her a shocked look and she blushed and said, "Sorry, but look at this place! It's full of every type of prank that the students could want. Oh, we're going to have a field day with this, I can tell. The prefects are going to have their hands full," she didn't look happy, especially when she saw everyone buying stuff for Hogwarts. A bang went off near her, and she was shocked to find herself growing distorted, as if she were in a muggle fun- house mirror, but real. She found a sign that said the effects would wear off in a few minutes, and went out of the store with Harry in tow. They got the books that they needed, got all of their robes and clothes(Madame Malkin was given a heads up and stocked up on muggle exercise clothes.) Then they went to the ice cream parlour and shared a shake, each taking a straw and drinking out of it. They shared many kisses, using the excuse that there was ice cream on the other's face, which was being done on purpose. They saw Cho Chang, who looked furious at the sight of them together. Hermione laid her hand on Harry's and shot Cho a look that said very clearly, "He's mine!" Cho huffed and left, holding the hand of who turned out to be Michael Corner, Ginny's ex. Harry and Hermione shared a look of sadness for Ginny before grinning at the thought that Cho had lowered herself to be with Ginny's ex. They bought the ink, quills, and scrolls that they would need for school and flooed back to HQ with Lupin and Molly right behind them. They knew that he adults had known what they were doing, but they were so caught up in the moment that they didn't care. They were to leave for Hogwarts on 3 days, so they decided that they would make the most of their time.  
When they arrived in the kitchen for a snack there was another letter for both of them with the Hogwarts crest on it. It contained two prefects badges, wit ha letter explaining that they had gotten top marks and that Ron was refusing to return to school, so Harry, who would have gotten it last year had it not been for Dumbledore not wanting to put more pressure on him, would get the job. They looked at each other and kissed in joy, then breaking apart and hugging, resting their foreheads against each other's. Lupin and Molly looked impressed and happy that the two got the positions together. They looked at each other and started cooking a congratulations meal.  
  
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Scooby activity in Hogwarts  
  
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Dawn started going through the library after Chris had told Madame Pince why she was there, and started looking through the books on Vampires, which Buffy and Giles said were the first things that they would go over. She looked for a book on it, and found one with the title 'The Scourge of Europe: A Legacy". She looked and saw the faces of Spike, Dru, Angel, and Darla looking back at her. She started to read and almost immediately put the book into the 'fake' pile. It said that all four had been killed by some member or other of the Ministry of Magic, whereas all of them were still alive. Well, living dead, anyway. She looked through more books about them, interested in what other lies she would read...  
Buffy and Giles started getting their lessons planned, starting with Vampires. She wanted to teach them the weaknesses, powers, strengths, and history of them, plus do at least a day on the Scourge of Europe. Giles agreed with this, but also felt the need to cover defensive tactics and ways to prevent being bitten or turned.  
Spike was to start out with spells that could set an opponent on fire(for vamps) without the witch or wizard having to be close to the vamp or demon. Then he was to show how to do a spell that would summon a ray of sunlight, and another that would bring about some holy water. Then he would show them, finally for the vampire unit, a spell that would conjure a stake out of mid-air, then send it into the opponent's heart, only to be used on a vamp or demon, of course.  
Anya got familiar with the librarian and spoke with her about the many encounters that she'd had in the past with things that go bump in the night and the many famous figures that she either cursed or granted a wish for. Madame Pince held onto her words with attention, amazed at what the ex-vengeance demon had seen in her day and who she had met. They talked about the books, Anya got a tour of what was where and how it was organised, then they sat and watched as Dawn looked through the books and sorted them into either fact or fiction. The librarian was amazed at how many of her precious books were being rejected as false, but she was told that this girl was well versed in the topics and knew what was true and what wasn't.  
Xander got along marvelously with the Muggle Studies teacher, talking about how everything worked and correcting many false views that wizards had about muggles. They talked about various machines, agreeing that television was one of the best things out there, and comparing views on videos, actors and actresses, video games, and computers. They got along well and planned to teach the students about how, even though muggles don't have magic, they are just as good as- sometimes even better than- wizards.  
They all met when the day was done and compared notes, finding the other staff to be polite and courteous. Giles had a run in that he didn't quite know what to make of, one that he didn't want to share just yet with the others...  
  
_Flashback  
_  
"Is there a problem, sir?" a sharp voice asked Giles.  
"Yes, I seem to be a little lost. Could you help me please, professor...?" Giles asked, putting in the pause to let the voice know that he wanted a name as he turned around ans saw who was talking to him.  
"McGonnagal. Minerva McGonnagal. And you are?" The woman asked, curious as to who the man was. She had seen him among the new teachers, but never caught the name.  
"Oh, right, erm, sorry. Rupert Giles. I was supposed to meet professor Summers in the Teacher's Room, but somehow managed to get...where am I?" He was hopelessly lost, and yet he couldn't take his eyes off of Minerva. He couldn't deny that she looked older than he was, but he found a spark in her eyes that took many years off of her and made her seem young.  
She was wondering what a teacher was doing down in the dungeons before noticing his eyes, staring at hers. She looked away and slightly blushed, but before she had she noticed something in his eyes- something that looked dangerous. She told him to follow her.  
He started thinking 'to the ends of the Earth' when she told him to follow, but did as he was told. In a few moments they reached the teacher's room and she left him there, still looking slightly stunned at what he found...  
  
_End flashback_  
  
All he knew for sure was that he didn't want to share what he went through with any of the Scooby's, for they would probably tease him mercilessly. Still, he couldn't help thinking about those eyes...  
  
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Willow and Tonks' Room  
  
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The two witches decided that they would get started on their lessons the day school classes officially started, September second. That was four days away, so until then they decided that they would get settled and also get acquainted with each other. Chris had joined them for breakfast, then there was a knock of the door and she said that she had to take care of a few things but that she'd be back later. Tonks was suspicious about the vagueness with which Chris had spoken, but decided to let it pass. She and Willow spent the morning in the bedroom, figuring out whose stuff went where and all of that. Then it was lunch time and they got a huge meal. After that Willow spent time alone in the bedroom writing to her friends, thinking that they wouldn't get the letters but wanting to write any way.  
Tonks, on the other hand, went exploring. She checked the bathroom one more time and found that everything replenished itself, so there was no way that they would run out of soap or anything. Then she found that if she wanted something that wasn't there, all she had to do was say that she wanted whatever it was, and it appeared wherever she was. Very convenient.  
Then she checked the den and found a secret doorway. She opened it and found a room with magic supplies in it, including ten or twelve wands for Willow to try out. Tonks knew how to tell when the red head had found the right wand, it just looked right. There were books and cauldrons and pillows and everything they could need for learning. There was also a CD player with calming music in it for meditation. Tonks smiled as she heard the sound of the ocean, closing her eyes as peace rolled over her. She hit the off button and went out of the room. Then she had a blast with the cabinet, getting chocolate from it. She sighed as the heavenly food touched her tongue, savoring it's rich, creamy flavor.  
Then Chris came into the room. Well, fell into the room is more like it. Tonks swallowed hard and ran over to her friend, calling for Willow as she did so. Willow went down the stairs and found Tonks dragging Chris over to the couch. She ran over and helped Tonks. The two together carried their friend over to the couch and laid her down.  
"What the bloody hell happened?" Tonks said, brushing the brown-ish blonde locks away from a panting face.  
"Hello to you, too," Chris said, her voice raspy. "Wills, can you go over to the cabinet and get some water for me? Just go up to it thinking water and it'll give it to you."  
"Of course," Willow said as she went over to the cabinet.  
"Right, wotcher, now what happened?" Tonks was getting anxious, looking at the bad condition that her friend was in.  
"Let's just say that Death Eaters aren't very happy with me right now for putting a spell on Azkaban. The ones that are trapped in there can't get out, and the ones who are free are pulled in if they try to get their friends out. The free ones got very-erm- mad at me," Chris started to explain, accepting the cup from Willow and taking a long drink from it, then clearing her throat.  
"What does that have to do with the state that you're in?" Tonks asked, not getting why Chris was talking about Death Eaters.  
"They attacked me." Tonks gasped and Willow got a worried look on her face. Chris grinned ruefully and added, "I was in Hogsmead meeting a friend and I saw them coming up, so I told my friend to leave. He protested a bit, then took off. I went out side, pretending to notice nothing, and 14 of them jumped me together! They performed every curse that is known to hurt on me, and I'm just glad that I'm immortal."  
Tonks gasped, knowing that what she said meant she'd had Avada Kedavra performed on her, the killing curse. Willow looked uneasy, but didn't understand the significance of what had happened. "How did you escape, then?" Tonks asked, summoning a healing potion and handing it to her friend, who made a face at the thought of taking the stuff, and sighed.  
"I managed to get a wiccan shield up after a few minutes, which, as a bonus, knocked them unceremoniously on their royal butts for a few seconds. Then I teleported to the castle and didn't quite make it to my room, ya see," Chris made another face and swallowed the potion, hissing as it burned her throat on the way down.  
"What did they want?" Willow finally joined in the conversation. "Even if they are evil, they had to have had a better reason than the fact that you imprisoned their friends, right?"  
"Chris? Is there something that you're not telling?" Tonks was getting suspicious now, her eyes narrowing.  
"Well, they do know that I brought reenforcements to Hogwarts to protect Harry, and they tried to get who it was out of me as well, but I didn't speak."  
"You mean Willow?"  
"Her, and a few others, the new staff members are highly trained pros," Chris grinned to herself, knowing that she was getting close to the truth about who the new members were, but wouldn't let it go further than she had.  
"Well, you seem to be healing nicely," Tonks said, giving Chris a glance to check for any injuries still in desperate need of help. "Wanna sleep in here tonight? I don't think you should be alone."  
"Aww, you just don't think that I deserve the bigger room all to myself," Chris teased, a sure sign that she was doing better. "But if you say so, doc, then I would be glad to crash with you two."  
They got bed clothes and a queen sized bed from the cabinet, along with many pillows, and Tonks decided to stay with Chris in that bed just in case she was in pain during the night.  
Willow agreed and went upstairs, thinking, 'ok, just because she's spending a night with another girl doesn't mean that she's gay. I did it with Buffy before I turned gay, and it meant nothing other than comfort for her. But maybe she is? Who am I kidding, I just wish that she is.' Willow didn't know why, but she was really attracted to Tonks, and hoped that maybe Tonks was a lesbian as well, or at least a bi.  
Meanwhile, downstairs, Chris laid on her back, the only part that wasn't really too bad off, while Tonks snuggled into her side, head resting on the other's shoulder. Chris put her arm around Tonks' shoulders, and they fell asleep like that, each finding comfort in the other...  
  
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that ends the day. Hope you all enjoyed it, and comments I'd be happy to hear. Questions, concerns, complaints, open ears here, man, open ears. Oh, and to whomever is responsible for inventing Krispy Kreme Doughnuts... you are my hero!! Well, ok, Ozzy is my hero, but you are my other hero! Ok, whatever y'all think, just drop a line. Input is a writer's best bud, and all writers need best buds. Don't deny us friends. ;-) 


	7. blue crush

Sorry for the late update. Things have been all stressful. First I almost die by car, then get flipped off five or six times 10 minutes later. Then 2 weeks later my ferret goes all floppy and everyone thinks she had a stroke and was paralyzed and had to be put down until the vet gave her a shot of sugar and told us that she was, like, diabetic. Meanwhile I am in Texas on vacation and so sick and in so much pain that I can't move, so they take me to a hospital, thousands of miles from where I normally live, and perform major surgery and call me unique, saying that I had something they had never seen before. I finally got home alive and have been working at they keyboard when I could stand the horrible pain. On the brighter side, I must thank my beta, blackcat200, for, well, beta-ing and being all cool about looking over this. Thanx!!

d/c: you know the drill...I don't own what's not mine, they all belong to the writers, producers, creators, and any artists that may have songs that show up.

Spoilers: up to season 6 in buffy, up to book 5 in HP. Music that you may not have heard but want to hear may also be shown. Stuff by T.A.T.u., Ozzy, Avril, Eric Clapton, that kind of stuff, is fair game. You have been warned!

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Tonks woke up to find herself snuggled up next to Chris. She smiled to herself and snuggled in deeper, sighing. 'This is the way I always want to wake up. Next to someone I trust,' she thought.

Chris woke up and saw Tonks curled up beside her, eyes half open. "Hey, you," she said softly to the green haired girl.

"Hey yourself," Tonks replied, giggling at the phrase Chris used so often. "So how do you feel today?" she asked, getting into her serious mode.

"Honestly? Like I got hit with the killing curse and survived," Chris joked, grinning. "It's not bad. The ribs are a little sore, but I think I can survive."

"That's good. So what are we doing today?" Tonks asked, content with what she got.

"Well, I don't know what you're doing, but I'm going to Australia for a surf session and a college course," Chris answered.

"Can I come?" Tonks asked, wanting to visit the continent.

"No!" Chris answered.

"What? Why not?" Tonks asked, hurt.

"Because I have a surfing lesson from a girl that I like, and I don't need you interfering with that. Then the class is boring and you would be asking to go home in minutes," Chris explained in a tone that wasn't mean or sarcastic.

"Well, can I come to the surf session and just watch, then aparate to Hogwarts after? I promise to be quiet," Tonks said, desperate to get out of the room.

"Fine. But I want no comments from you whatsoever if I hit on her, you hear?" Chris said after thinking it over for a few seconds.

"Gotcha," Tonks replied, grinning. She ran up the stairs and told Willow that Chris was better and that they were gonna go out for a while. Willow nodded her head, acknowledging it, and the two went out of the room, then teleported to Australia.

Tonks sat on the beach working on her tan as she watched Chris get her feet under her and then loose her footing to fall in the water. Then she grabbed the board as the instructor (blonde, tan, cute accent) wiped the hair out of her eyes gently and held onto her waist as she got back up. Then she saw them holding hands as the girl showed her friend how to stand on the board. Tonks saw a huge wave going towards them and tensed for a second before she saw Chris mutter something and make a motion with her hands, stopping the wave from hitting her and the Aussie. She sighed in relief, then sat back and watched the two flirting shamelessly. It was interesting to see another's technique.

She then watched as the two caught a huge wave together, which had shown up as if by magic(and maybe it'd had a little help from that department). She watched Chris taking the wave like a pro, and handling her board beautifully. Then Tonks saw her friend's attention waver for just a second, but it was all it took. Suddenly, the wave doubled, so a tube came over the tube, and crashed down. The girl that Chris was surfing with shouted a warning, but it was too late. Tonks watched in horror as her friend got crushed by the blue giant. She screamed, but saw Chris' friend out in the water dive down and was reassured.

She watched as the two came out of the water and the Australian girl dragged Chris to shore, then bent over her worriedly as all the other beach goers ignored them. Tonks put a charm on herself so that she could hear what the girl said to Chris, which was along the lines of, "don't die, sweetie. Please don't go!"

Tonks grinned, knowing that Chris was immortal and couldn't die, that she was probably just stunned and was forgetting to breathe. She couldn't wait to see Chris' expression when she realised that she was getting mouth-to-mouth from this girl. Tonks was a little worried that no one was helping, but decided to leave it for later. She aparated back to Hogsmead so that she didn't disturb Chris and the surfer girl.

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Chris was in a daze. 'That wave hit really hard. How did it get that strong?' she wondered, as she started to come to her senses. She realised that someone had their mouth over hers and was breathing into her mouth. The lips were soft. 'Must be Rena' she thought. She realised that she wasn't breathing. 'Oops. I guess I forgot. Well, I was in a daze. I guess I have to make this convincing.' She gasped and started coughing, having gone through this a few times before.

"Oh God! You're alive!" Rena, the Australian, said, hugging Chris. "I thought that I'd lost you! Never scare me like that again, do you hear?"

"I hear. I'm sorry. I didn't hear what you were saying, and by the time I got it, it was too late to do anything." Chris started explaining, leaning into Rena, feigning weakness, as she was supposed to after almost drowning.

"Are you all right, at least?" Rena was concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Well, not fine fine, but fine," Chris started babbling.

"That's good."

"Yeah, but there's one thing I don't get," Chris said, starting to get a look in her eye that Rena couldn't read. She decided to play along.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Was it my imagination, or were your lips covering mine a few seconds ago?" Chris was slightly grinning now, baiting the Aussie.

"I wasn't about to let you die, dummie!"

"Oh, so it wasn't just that I'm so totally kissable?" Chris feigned disappointment.

"Well...that could have helped me along." Rena was starting to get what was going on, and she was completely fine with where it was going.

"Ya know, I don't think that my breathing is quite right just yet. I may need a little more help from you," Chris said, getting a breathier voice.

"I may be able to do that." With that, the two moved towards each other and kissed lightly before Chris pulled away with a shock.

"Oh man! I forgot! Your board! Rena, I am so sorry! I lost my grip on it in the water and the ankle grip came loose." Chris started stressing out, knowing how much the long board she was on costed.

"Hey, it's all right. You're alive, right? Losing the board is preferable to losing your life." Rena was amazed that this girl had come so close to death and she was thinking about her and her lost surf board. 'How selfless is she? Wow, I lucked out with this one. Usually the ones that care this much are straight.' She grinned.

"I can get you another. I mean, it was your long board, and now it's somewhere out in the ocean!"

"Chill out. I have more. Do you know how many I go through in a year? A lot. I have about ten boards at the house, and about four of them are long boards. That one was nothing special. Well, it was, but it was nothing irreplaceable." She held onto Chris and said, "do you want to come back to the house for a few minutes to dry off? You're soaked."

"Yeah, sure, but only for a few minutes. I have a class over at the lab in Sydney in about half an hour, and since I don't have a car or a license, I have to walk."

"Hey, I can drive you. Is there anything that you brought that we should grab?" Rena asked, standing up and brushing the sand off of herself.

"Nah. They don't care over there if I wear this, so I usually go in a bikini or bathing suit. They'll think this is modest." She grinned and gestured sat what she was wearing, a long pair of shorts and a matching short sleeved shirt, both meant for the water, tight and form fitting, made out of an elastic-like material.

"Okay. Here, grab a towel." The surfer girl tossed a beach towel at Chris and grabbed one herself from the bag that she had brought, which was close by them. They walked over to the car, a cute little blue sports car, with Rena's arm supporting Chris around her waist. Chris had her arm slung over Rena's shoulder for "support". (Ok, just to be close to her). They jumped in and Rena started the car up. In a few minutes they were pulling up to a cute little house fairly close to the beach.

"Wow, this is nice, Ren," Chris said, looking the house over.

"It's small, but it's home." Rena let them into the house, grinning as she heard that the other girl liked it. "So, the bathroom is down the hall to your right, third door. There are big fluffy towels in there. Could you bring one out when you find them?"

"Sure, no prob, babe." Chris said, being affectionate. She grinned and went into the bathroom, finding large towels on her left. She grabbed two and went back out to the bigger part of the house, where she found Rena lounging on a couch with her eyes closed. She decided to sneak up on her just for a laugh. She walked silently, as she knew how to do, and wrapped her arms around Rena's neck from the back (if she had been standing, it would have been her waist) and said in a low voice, "Hey, you."

Rena jumped and tilted her head back to see who it was, then grinned, saying, "so you feel better then?"

"Yeah. Here's a towel. You're soaking your couch." She tossed a towel at the other woman and wrapped her own around her waist. She saw Rena giving her a hungry look and smiled innocently and sat next to her, closing her eyes as well. She felt the couch move as Rena shifted closer to her and smiled to herself. She hadn't planned for it to happen that way, but she was dealing well.

"Do you know what you're doing to me, sitting there all perfect looking?"

"Mmmm...no. Why don't you tell me what I'm doing to you, Ren?"

"You're driving me crazy! Do you know how much I wanna kiss you?"

"How much?"

"I'll show you." With that, Rena leaned over and covered Chris' mouth with her own, leaning against her side for support.

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Harry and Hermione woke up around noon, savouring the feeling of sleeping in late. Harry got up first and opened his eyes lazily, to find Hermione leaning her head against his shoulder for support. "Hey, 'Mione. Get up, love." He shook her gently.

"Why?" She whined, snuggling deeper into his arm.

"Because it's almost noon! If we don't get up, we may get suspicious comments asking what we were doing up here for all this time."

"Let them ask, and let me sleep!" 'She's really tired' Harry thought. He decided that he'd been nice enough and given her enough chances. 'Really glad that this house is protected so that no one can sense if magic is done in it. He conjured up a bucket full of freezing cold water and a slide under his girl so that the water wouldn't soak the bed. 'She's gonna kill me for this, but it must be done.'

Carefully, he edged the water over to the bed, then used his wand to tip it all at once onto her head. She jumped up as the first drop hit her, and screamed in shock as she found herself soaked to the bone and frozen. "Harry! I'm going to make you the boy who didn't live in about two seconds!"

"Oh, come on, you wouldn't-"

"**TWO SECONDS, POTTER**!"

With that, he ran out of the room and left her in peace to calm down, thinking that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea after all to wake her up.

He was downstairs eating a sandwich made by Mrs. Weasley when Hermione came down the stairs, looking very grumpy. "H-hi, 'Mione." he tried, his voice weak as he remembered her fury.

"I'm not a morning person, Harry. Remember that. And I'm really not a morning person when someone pours _5 gallons of ice water on me when I'm in a deep sleep_!" she shouted the last part so that everyone looked over and grinned. The twins gave identical smirks that suggested that they wouldn't let Harry forget this one for a while.

"I didn't mean to! It's the middle of the day!" Poor Harry was shocked at the outburst and still a little scared at what may happen to him.

"You're lucky I love you so much!" Hermione growled at him, then kissed him. Everyone cheered and clapped at the couple. The twins started giving out cat-calls. When they were finished, Hermione asked innocently, "so what were we gonna do today?"

"Nothing." Harry responded, shocked that she had kissed him in front of the whole house.

"Good. Then let's go and 'pack'" she said with a wink, which Harry caught and followed her up the stairs fast.

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"Hey, Will. I'm back," Tonks called as she walked into the rooms that they shared.

"That was quick. Did you have fun?" Willow asked, interested.

"It was...interesting. I didn't like seeing Chris flirting with that Australian girl, but I like her. She saved Chris."

"What do you mean saved? What happened?" Willow started getting worried, thinking that there had been another attack.

"A wave doubled in size when Chris was riding it, and caught her unaware, so she got knocked off and around by it. Then the girl she was with saw her fall and dragged her from the water. She got shocked or something...she forgot to breathe. No worries, though. She's fine." Tonks waved it off.

"That's good. So, what did you do at the beach while watching Chris surfing?"

"Worked on my tan. Honestly, I love this country, but it's horrible if you want color in your skin." Tonks pouted.

"Can't you just change the color of your skin with a thought?" Willow asked, referring to her being a Morphmagus.

"Well...yeah, actually. I forgot about that. It still doesn't change the fact for everyone else."

"Well, don't worry about me. Fair skinned I am and fair skinned I shall remain, and may no sun ever tempt me." Willow joked.

"Well, we have a while before Chris comes back, and that's assuming that she comes right home after her class. What do you want to do?"

"Um, I don't know. What can we do?"

"How about a game of Wizard's Chess?"

"Okay. But what's the difference between Wizard's Chess and normal Chess?"

"In Wizard's Chess the pieces move on their own once you tell them where to go, and it's more violent and fun."with that, they started a game with Tonks teaching Willow along the way how to play the game, and letting her win the first two games, then creaming her in the next and losing for real in the fourth and final game.

"How'd you get so good at this, Tonks?"

"Years of nothing else to do as a child. Chris and I played all the time at school. Kept us from doing our homework." Tonks grinned as she revealed a secret hidden from all others.

"You two were close, weren't you?" Willow asked, noticing a look in Tonks' eye as she remembered old times.

"Yeah," Tonks replied.

"Could you tell me about some of the things that you two did?" Willow asked, wanting to know more.

"Maybe when Chris gets back. She can tell it all a lot better than I can. Speaking of, her class should have been over by now. I wonder where she is?" Tonks said, effectively changing the subject. "And I want to know how that wave that creamed her got so big. I think she called up the original, which was a good ten or fifteen feet, but someone or something else made it double so that it gigantic. When it hit her it was easily twenty or thirty feet high." Tonks started thinking about what may have happened. "It may have been a Death Eater, they don't like her too much right now. I didn't see one on the beach, but I wasn't paying much attention."

"Tonks, calm down. I bet Chris will have an answer when she gets back. But just out of curiosity, what's a Death Eater?"

Tonks took a deep breath and began. "Well, about seventeen years ago, a wizard went bad and started craving power. He gathered other wizards around him by..."

"Dawn! Why are you so late?" Buffy asked as Dawn sauntered into the Scooby meeting that had been called ten minutes late.

"Chill out, Buffy. I was in the Library and I lost track of time. Then I got lost," Dawn explained, rolling her eyes at her sister's outburst. "And don't act like you're the princess of punctuality. How many times were you late for library meetings in high school with Xander, Will, and Giles?"

"Shut up!" Buffy glared at her little sister. "Fine, I'm letting this one go. Next time you might not be so lucky, though."

"I'm quaking in my boots," Dawn informed her sarcastically.

"Right, then," Giles cleared his throat, interrupting the verbal dispute that could easily come to blows. "Let's talk about our progress so far, shall we?"

"Spike and I have the fighting part of the class planned out, and you know how far you and I have gotten in the book learning part of it." Buffy told him, getting her focus.

"Yeah, blondie and I have it all planned out, starting with learning to fall and ending with learning how to use a spoon as a lethal weapon," Spike added, grinning at the last part.

"Anya? How are you doing?"

"Can't complain. The chair could be a little more comfortable, but I'll live." Anya replied, thinking he was asking about her current status.

"No, I mean with the librarian." Giles cleaned his glasses in frustration.

"Oh. Why didn't you say so? Pretty well. Madame Pince and I are getting on well, communicating, and getting used to each other. And she accepts what Dawnie is doing without too much complaint."

"Good, Good. Speaking of, how is the research going, Dawn?"

"Humph. I went through about thirty books, and twenty five of them were horribly wrong. Angel got killed by a pony, indeed!" she snorted.

"Right. And Xander?"

"Good, G-Man. The prof and I are kindred spirits, it seems. No problems here, whatsoever."

"Got it. So, I guess that's everything. Unless anyone has something else to say?"

"Spike and I worked out a defense system for the Potter kid," Buffy piped up. "Spike sits outside of the Gryff common room at night and I keep an eye out during the day. And we have a charm put on him so that whenever something dangerous comes near him and is threatening him we know about it. Sound good?" Buffy looked anxious, wanting her plan to be approved of.

Giles nodded. "Very good. You two thought that up yourselves?"

"Yup. We're bloody brains, you know that, watcher-boy," Spike said.

"Right, then. I think it's bed-time. Good-night, all." Giles walked out of the room yawning as the others realised that it was close to midnight.

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"Chris? Are you ready to go?" Rena asked, snuggling into the other girl's shoulder after kissing her.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. The class. Yeah, sure. Whenever you want to. I still have about five minutes. With the way you drive, I'd be about four minutes early." She earned herself a playful smack in the abs as she rested her head against the top of Rena's.

"All right. And what time does the class let out?"

"An hour after it starts, but I have a ride home all ready," Chris put in, knowing that if she hadn't the other would have been waiting for her.

"Who?"

"My room mate. He and I have an arrangement. I take him out swimming with dolphins and he picks me up from classes."

"He?"

"He. He is named Avery, and he has a boyfriend, so don't even think that he's free," Chris teased. Rena blushed.

"You live with a guy, though? That's surprising," she said.

"Why is that surprising? I mean, in the 1800's it would be shocking and unheard of unless I was married or related, but this is the 2000's, babe." Chris was surprised at the attitude.

"It's shocking that you two tolerate each other, and that you don't discriminate each other. I had one roomie, once, and she kicked me out because she and her boy friend caught me snogging (AN:what's the Aussie term?) on my bed one night when they came in to do the same," Rena was close to tears, and Chris noticed and held her close.

"Sh. It's okay. She was a bitch. If Avery and I discriminated against one another it would be hypocritical, wouldn't it?" she got a sniffle and a nod in response. "Besides, most of the time we don't see each other. One of us is usually out of the house doing something. I mean, I'm rarely home. But when we do get together, it's all hugs and puppies until rent time, then it's money, hugs and puppies." Chris grinned, and got a weak smile in response. "We're close, and we don't fight a whole lot, which is good. I think the last thing we fought about was whether or not surfing was an actual sport. I say yea, he said nay." Chris grinned. "I won." She checked her watch. "Oh, gosh, we gotta go. I'm gonna be late! Do you feel up to driving?"

"Yeah, hop in," Rena said, and a minute later they were at the lab with Chris holding onto the seat for dear life. Rena gave her a quick kiss. "I had fun. Aside from that whole almost drowning thing."

"Yeah? Me too. We should do it again sometime."

"How about tomorrow?"

"How about going on a date tomorrow instead of surfing? It's supposed to be nice out." Chris asked, hoping for a yes.

"Sounds good," Rena responded, smiling.

"I'll come by your place. Say around, oh, I dunno, seven?"

"Sounds good. Now go to class, you're late!"

"Thanks. See you tomorrow," Chris grinned and stole another kiss, then ran out onto the small dock where she saw the rest of the class. She heard Rena's car drive off and smiled as she listened to the professor say that they were going out onto the reef to study the non-mobile things out there.

After the class ended, she decided to go back to the apartment that she shared with Avery to check in. She found him in there watching a video about kangaroos. He raised a hand in greeting. "Hey, Chris. Where ya been?"

"In England, Hogwarts." Avery was a wizard and knew all about her.

"Oh yeah? How's Harry and his little gang doing?" Avery asked casually.

"Well, Sirius died, so Harry's all torn up about that. Then Hermione's parents just died a few days ago, and she ran into Harry, and now they're happy together, so that worked out slightly well. Then Weasley got all jealous that Harry is going out with Hermione so he won't be returning to Hogwarts or have any contact with his family."

Avery gave her his full attention. "Sirius Black died? That's horrible. What happened?"

"His cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, knocked him into the veil in the Department of Mysteries." Chris' tone was sad as she said it.

"And the Grangers?"

"Voldemort."

"That's bad. So what now?"

"Now the gang from Sunnydale takes up residence in Hogwarts to protect Harry and fill teaching positions. And Tonks is teaching Will how to do wand magic, so she's sticking around Hogwarts as well, they share a room. And I'm gonna hang out there every night, in case someone needs me. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure. No prob. You're still going to pay rent, though, right?"

"I'm not abandoning you, nut case. And I just found the girl of my dreams, so expect to see me around more." She tousled his hair affectionately.

"Oh no! That means if you're gonna be here with your girl toy, I can't bring my boy toys around!" He groaned.

"Chill, blondie. She has her own house, we'll probably be there most of the time. I just thought I'd check in with you. How's it going?"

"Good. Well, if you have to go, it's near midnight in England, so..."

"Thanks, Ave. I owe ya. I didn't realise it got this late. See you in a while, nut case! Maybe I'll let you meet Rena." Chris laughed and teleported into Tonks and Willow's apartment, leaving Avery mouthing, "Rena?"

Chris looked around and saw that they had gone to bed. She smiled and went to her own room to change and sleep. She could feel that tomorrow would be fun.

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I hope you all liked it. Oh, right. I take annonymous reviews now, as well. I got over the whole 'suspended' thing.

Peace

Chris


	8. return to Hogwarts

1Hey, y'all. I felt that I was neglecting you, and I can't play volleyball due to the jagged wound on my abs, so I felt like typing away. In response to the flame I got from Joe Hundredaire, I have this to say:

I mentioned in the summary that It was AU, so that means that just because it takes place after season 6 doesn't mean it has to follow the rules of season six. And hello, if Willow is gone, that means that it's after that season, so why would I have a depressed Buffy after her depression. And "what's left about season 6?" Let's see, I kept Willow gay and banished her for making with the dark magic, that was part of season six. I kept her flaying someone for killing Tara, that was season 6. And I had Tara dead, that was most certainly season 6. My grammar was fine, as said by my beta who read the chapter after I posted it. Let's see, what else? I have nothing about my "OC" in the other fic, I'm adding it gradually into this one. Nothing about her powers in the other. I said if you want instant background, go to the other. Only because it's unimportant to this fic. And don't you curse at me, mister. It's bad enough you falsely accuse me of bad spelling, don't cuss as well.

Blackcat200: thank you. I will keep it up. And thank you muchly for being a good beta.

Spoilers: it tells of events in season 6. There are mentions of things up to OotP in the HP books.

Disclaimer: I don't own what's not mine. Ya dig?

On with it!!!!

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Tonks woke up to a good smell hitting her nose. It twitched involuntarily as she smelled sausages and eggs. And what was that? Is it? Yes! Blueberry pancakes and muffins. And the distinct smell of chocolate. She got out of bed fast and ran downstairs. The sight she was greeted with made her gasp. A huge table set up with everything that she liked for breakfast and, to top it off, a smiling Chris sitting behind the table, waiting for her. "Oh my god!" she said, looking at everything. "Chris, who did this? And why?"

"Well, I did, Tonks," Chris admitted with a sheepish grin. "And the house elves helped by making the food, but I told them what to make and the secret recipes to do so. I did it because you were so awesome yesterday, not interfering with Rena. She was really happy when she thought she saved me. Of course I really just forgot to breathe, but she doesn't know that, but that was off topic. Thanks, Tonks. Really."

"It was hard, but I left to take away the temptation to shove her aside and shake you until you woke up," Tonks admitted. "So what happened with that girl, anyway? And why were you so late getting in? Will and I were asleep before you got back."

"Ah, that. Well, after she brought me out of that daze, she was really happy that I was alive. Se she offered to bring me back to her place to dry off. I accepted, and we went over there. It's a cute house, close to the beach and small, but roomy. I grabbed towels and we lounged on the couch for a while. Then she moved over and started talking, well, seducing. Then we kissed. Then she brought me to my class and we made a date for today."

"I don't know what was more disturbing. The fact that you did that in 2 breaths, or the fact that your near death experience got you a date with a cute girl," Tonks said, amazed by both.

"I did rush that, huh?" Tonks nodded. "It was fun just sitting around and stuff. And since one of my classmates had seen me almost die on the beach, I got to chill in the boat all class while the others had to collect specimens that are really hard to get without getting stung."

"That's why you were late? You were sitting on a boat? For 6 hours?"

"Oh, right. No, I went to the flat that I have in Sydney. I share it with someone and I wanted to check in, make sure he was all right. And alert him that I have a girl in that area and will be spending more time home, maybe. And he's a wizard, so he knows what's happening around here as well." Chris looked on anxiously as Tonks processed the information.

"I didn't know that you had a flat in Sydney, or a roomma... HE?!"

"Uh, yeah. I hoped you wouldn't catch that. But he's gay, so I don't worry about him hitting on me. And he and I are always out, so we don't-wait, why am I explaining myself to you? You're not my mum." Chris realised mid-explination.

"Well, no reason, I guess. So he knows about the order?" She got a nod. "Is he trustworthy, at least?"

"I'd trust him with your life."

"Right. How much does he know?"

"Let's see...the prophesy, the whole one. Sirius, both that he's good and that he's dead. And the Grangers. And about the Weasley boy running away."

"Cor. He knows more than I do. Ron ran away?" Tonks couldn't believe it. He and Harry were best friends. How could he run.

"Yeah. Harry and Hermione started dating, and Ron wanted Hermione, so he got all mad and ran off. Decided he wasn't returning to school. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say," Chris spat, fake, into the air.

"I thought you liked the Weasleys?"

"yeah, I like the family, but I hate Ron, always have. While the others were showing courage, bravery, and intelligence, he was cowering in fear, except in the chess game, turning his back on his friends in their times of need, and drawing conclusions based on something that he thought he saw. He was rash, made haste. Haste leads to falls and mistakes. Just ask Shakespeare," Chris was fuming and ranting now, her dislike for the red head obvious.

"All right. I believe you. Don't get your knickers in a twist." Tonks grinned.

"Ok, I'm all calm now. No more mad goddess," Chris took a deep breath and grinned. "So? Are ya gonna eat this breakfast, or am I gonna have to do it all by myself?"

Tonks froze for a second to take in the change of subject, then laughed and sat down at the table to fill her plate and eat. They ate over a huge meal, laughing. Willow came down about an hour after they started, rubbing her eyes and grumbling.

"Wotcher, Will," Tonks greeted the red head cheerfully. "Want some breakfast?" Willow grumbled something incomprehensible in response. Tonks looked confused.

"Will. Coffee?" Chris offered, knowing Willow. Tonks gave her a look that said very clearly, 'huh?' "Willow is not a morning person until she has had a cup of caffeine." Chris explained.

"Why haven't I noticed this before?"

"You haven't tried really talking to her until after she got some coffee goodness." Tonks nodded in response, after thinking and seeing what was said as truth. Chris smiled and looked at her watch. "Ah, crap! It's 2:00 in the afternoon! Australia is, like, 4 hours ahead of us. That means I have one hour to get ready for my date with Rena!"

"Aw, must you go?" Tonks knew she was whining, but she wanted to spend a day with Chris.

"What's the big deal? I've gone out and left you before," Chris said, not getting why Tonks didn't want her to go.

"It's just that we never spend time together anymore." Tonks was trying to think up good reasons for getting Chris to stay. She didn't know why, but she just wanted her to herself that day. "And Willow was asking about us and our past together last night. I told her that you could tell it better than I can."

"Rena and I shouldn't be out that late. So after we finish the date, I will come back here to your room and do whatever you want me to. Sound fair? If I don't go see Rena she's going to think that something happened," Chris explained.

Tonks thought it over, then said, "All right. I guess that sounds fair enough."

"All right, then. I'm gonna go get ready. I'll be back in a few hours." With that, Chris left the two alone in the room while she went to get ready for her date.

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At Twelve Grimmauld Place...

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"Hurry up, you two," Molly shouted to Harry and Hermione, who were doing last minute packing and gathering their respective pets.

"We're coming, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione called down, panting under the weight of her trunk. "Could someone help us with these trunks? They weigh a ton," she complained.

"Aw, here, Mione, I'll help you carry that big heavy trunk," Harry said, thinking that it was as light as his, which didn't have as many books in it as hers did. He tried to pick it up and groaned. "God, Hermione, what do you have in here? Bricks?"

"Books, Harry. Books." Hermione giggled at Harry's face, which was turning red with the effort of holding the trunk. "You can put it down. I'm sure Kingsley or Mr. Weasley will carry it for us."

"Thank you," Harry said with a grunt as he dropped the heavy trunk. Hermione laughed and called for one of the older men to help them with the trunks. They got their stuff out to the cars that the ministry had let them use.

"Hey, Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked, realising something.

"Yes, Harry?" Mr. Weasley smiled at the boy.

"Why is Minister Fudge letting us borrow this car? I thought that he didn't like me or Hermione and wanted to make life as hard as he could for all of us."

Arthur got a mischievous look in his eye as he answered. "Minister Fudge is erm..well, you see, Harry...the Minister was...well...it was discovered that he was covering up the return of...of you-know-who. As soon as witches and wizards across the country found out that he was back, and that Fudge wasn't doing anything to prevent his return to power...well...he was kicked out of office." Mr. Weasley explained.

"So he's not the minister any more?" Harry asked, growing happy and excited.

"No, Harry, he is not. The new minister of magic is in fact Kingsley Shacklebolt!"

"So that's why he's not been around all summer?" Harry was beaming now, knowing that the man who had made life miserable for him was out of office for good now.

"Yes, but...good god, look at the time! We must be off now or you'll miss the train!" Arthur hustled them into the car and they were off. Harry noticed that this car operated a lot like the knight bus, moving that quickly and agilely through traffic and not getting noticed. They made it to the train station with 20 minutes to spare, early for once.

"Come on, Come on, let's hurry now," Mrs. Weasley told them as they rolled their trunks on a trolley to the platform. "Ginny, you first." Ginny leaned casually against the barrier to get onto the platform and slid easily through the wall. Molly and Arthur waited until Harry and Hermione had passed through before following themselves, remembering their second year. They all got through and said their goodbyes, with much hugging from Molly. Arthur told Harry to watch his back, knowing what was out there. The students boarded the train and found an empty compartment to sit in.

They relaxed as the train started moving, and shared snacks when the trolley witch passed through that section of the train. They were enjoying themselves, relaxing, talking, and having a good time, when something came in to ruin the fun.

"Well, well, well," said the sneering voice of Draco Malfoy. "What have we got here? Potty without the Weasel? And with his arm around the mud blood's waist? My, my, you have been busy this summer, haven't you, Potty?" Crabbe and Goyle snickered stupidly as Harry's hands clenched into fists and he started getting mad.

"Shove off, Malfoy. At least I don't need a sidekick to stay by me all the time, whereas you need two. Though together, they amount to about one half."

"What happened, Potter? Did the Weasel die of shock after finding a galleon on the street?" Malfoy had a smirk on his face as he watched Harry's fists clench tighter and Harry struggle to keep from hitting him.

"Don't talk about what you don't understand, you prick," Harry snarled, getting madder by the second.

Hermione saw this and put her hand on Harry's arm, snarling at Malfoy, "if you don't leave now, I'm going to take a leaf out of Moody's book and do a little human transfiguration. I wonder how long a fish can survive out of water? Don't you wonder, Malfoy?" She said the threat while casually fingering her wand. The suddenness and un-Hermione-like behavior shocked Harry and Ginny. Malfoy looked spooked for a second, then sneered and walked out of the compartment.

Harry relaxed and said, "Nice, Hermione. Could you really have done that?"

"Mmm, no. It just felt really good to threaten that little rat. Gin, are you all right?" She asked Ginny, who was still staring at the door.

"Y-yeah. It just still stings about Ron, you know? I mean, I know he was being a little bastard, but still...I mean, he was my brother, and I did love him when he wasn't being an ass." Ginny was babbling. "It's like... I can make fun of him and take shots at him because he's my brother, and you two can because you're like his brother and sister, but no one else can, because it's like they're not in the family." She got frustrated trying to make them understand, moving her hands around like windmill spokes.

"Gin, Gin, chill. We get it. No one that isn't either family or like family is allowed to say anything nasty about it, or really anything that isn't just plain curiosity, yeah?" Harry, of all people, said. Ginny nodded her head, surprised that it was Harry and not Hermione that said it first. They settled down and enjoyed the rest of the train ride, and when they checked the time and realised that it was close to arrival time, they all simply turned their backs and got changed instead of having to find separate compartments.

When they got to the school, they took a carriage with Neville, who had a new owl with him. He explained that he had gotten it because his gran had found out that he had been at the ministry and had shown complete bravery. He had named the owl Archimedes. They arrived at the castle and sat at the Gryff table with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, talking about their vacations and what they did. They greeted each other and sat down, waiting for the sorting to begin and end so that they could get to the feasting. They watched as the Sorting Hat was brought out.

The hat sang it's song and everyone applauded as the first years that didn't know what was to happen looked shocked that a hat could sing. The sorting began, and the first years were all put into their respective houses. Then Dumbledore got up and started to speak. "Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts. I am happy to see you all well and back. And to the new first years... welcome! Now, as a few notices... there is a new curfew. Students at and blow the third year must be in their common rooms by 8:00 in the evening. Students above that have until 10:00 to roam the castle. This is for your protection, for, as most of you are aware of, there is a war occurring now. For your safety, listen to any orders that a superior may give you...within reason, of course," he added after a slight pause, thinking of the mischief that Fred and George Weasley would have had with that order if they hadn't graduated the previous year. "On a more sorrowful note, Professor Umbridge is still in St. Mungo's and is currently unable to attend to her teaching duties this year. However, we have a new teacher, or should I say teachers? In addition, we have several new members to our staff. Allow me to introduce...Ms. Buffy Summers, Defense; Mr...er, Spike, Defense; Mr. Rupert Giles, Defense; Mr. Xander Harris, Muggle Studies asistant; Ms. Anya Jenkins, Librarian's assistant; and last but certainly not least, Ms. Dawn Summers, who will be checking the accuracy of our library's contents." He watched as everyone stood as their names were called and gave a tentative wave. "Well, I think that is it. Let the feast...begin!" And as he sat down, the plates filled themselves with a feast. He watched his students, two in particular at the Gryff table, eat and chat.

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Gryff table

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"So, Harry, where's Ron?" Dean asked innocently, filling his plate with steak-and-kidney pie.

"He decided not to come back this year," Harry said, trying for a casual tone. "The last I saw of him, he was storming out of the house, completely angry."

"What was he mad at," Seamus asked, eating some of the peppermint humbugs that were on the table and refilling his goblet with pumpkin juice.

"Oh, we had a fight over a girl. He wanted her, but never told her how he felt, so she didn't know. Then she and I got together, and he got all nasty with me because I didn't know that she was off limits." Harry shrugged, still using a light tone. "Then we fought a little and he left the place. Haven't seen him since, no one has that I know of. He wrote Dumbledore to let him know that he wasn't coming back to school, though." Seamus and Dean had a shocked look on their faces as they turned to their neglected dinners. The whole table discussed their summers and how everything went, and what was going on with the war that had been outed.

All through it Harry and Hermione were touching in some way, comforting each other in the absence of their missing red headed friend. They remembered at the end of the feast that they were to lead the first years up to the common room and give the password, so they called for the first years, then led them up to the common room and directed them to their dormitories, telling them what time breakfast and the first bell was, things like that.

When it was just older students coming in, they kissed and said good night, to the surprise of everyone, especially Dean and Seamus, who realised that they had forgotten to ask who the girl was that Harry and Ron had fought over.

The boys went up to their dormitories and immediately Dean, Seamus, and Neville congratulated Harry on getting Hermione and asking whether or not she was the girl he had fought over. Harry told them that she was, and that he wasn't proud of fighting Ron, but that next time the git should warn him when a girl is off limits. They all fooled around a little more, then went to bed, full and exhausted from a long day.

In the girl's dormitory, Lavender and Parvati jumped on Hermione as soon as she got into the room, ask-no, demanding, details about her new relationship. Hermione told them how she and Harry had met over the summer. They looked extremely sad when she told the beginning, of how she found the dark mark and her parents in grotesque poses with the note. They got angry when they heard about Dudley's gang beating on her, and understood now why Harry hated going home. They got with the 'awwww's when they heard about how Harry stood up to his cousin and what he said, and when he held her and let her sleep against him. Hermione left out the part where Chris brought her to her parents. The rest of the time they had the 'give the scoop' looks on their faces while Hermione told what happened with Ron and all of the times they kissed, and how sweet Harry was. After getting all of the details the girls permitted Hermione to go to bed, and made her promise that any details would be shared, and assured her that if he broke up with her, there were two shoulders to cry on and two wands to curse his sorry arse into wishing he never did it.

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meanwhile, in Australia

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"Mm, Chris, this is an awesome little restaurant. How did you ever find it?" Rena asked with a smile as she took another bite of the cheeseburger that she'd ordered. She watched, laughing slightly, as Chris attacked a rack of baby back ribs, having to stop every few seconds to wipe the sauce off of her hands and face.

"What? The Grill? I found it by accident, really," Chris explained, thankful for the opportunity to stop the losing attack on the messy ribs. "Avery and I were looking for a place to chill out and have a light dinner after a day of roomie bonding, and we saw that this place offered what they described as 'killer boneless spicy wings'. He and I are suckers for spicy wings, and the boneless was the clincher, so we came in and fell in love when we tried the wings, steak, and ribs. And the shakes helped the love come, as well." They both laughed.

Rena went back to eating her 'burger and watching the unsuccessful attack on the ribs, though she suspected that the losing battle was forged just for her amusement. They finished the main course and Chris offered dessert. "It's really good here. Everything and anything that you order can be guaranteed delicious," she waited for a response. Rena nodded and ordered the same caramel sundae that Chris got.

"What? Can't choose on your own?" Chris teased, though nicely.

"Maybe I just want to know more about you, including your taste preferences," Rena teased back, grinning.(AN: this was a line in a Charmed book...Garden of Evil, I think. But I don't think the character is gonna trap her date in a freaky enchanted garden like in said book.) They got the ice cream and declared it some of the best they ever tried.

After that, they felt inspired to go for a walk and work off some of the heavy food that they had eaten, really just an excuse to spend more time together. Later, after a little kissing, they went over to the place Chris and Avery shared, which turned out to be very interesting.

"We don't know what we may see, so be on your guard," Chris had warned her date, who grinned and nodded.

"Avery?" his room mate called out tentatively. "Ave? You here?" She heard a shuffling from his room and groaned, immediately thinking the worst. Rena gave her a look. "I just hope we're not catching him in position right now. I warned him that I might bring you over to meet him, but I guess that meathead thought I was joking or something..ah! Speak of the blondie and he appears!"

Avery walked down the stairs and grinned, saying, "hey, C. Didn't hear you come in, sorry."

"No worries, there wasn't an emergency," his room mate replied, looking slightly calmer at seeing him fully dressed. "I just wanted you to meet Rena."

"Ah, yea, the Rena you mentioned last night without saying who or what she was." He turned to her. "Nice to meet you Rena. So what are you?"

Rena looked at him and asked, "what do you mean, 'what am I'? What do I look like? I'm a person, braniac!"

"Oops! No worries, Rena. I just meant, are you Chris' girlfriend, just friend, worst enemy...what?" Avery laughed at his mistake while Chris glared at him.

"Oh! We're dating, but I don't really know yet..." Rena looked at Chris, who nodded.

"Avery! Where'd you go, mate? Why aren't you up here with me?" A slightly miffed male voice shouted from Avery's bedroom.

Avery blushed and shouted back, "I'll be back up in a few, man. Just meeting someone my roomie brought over." He looked at Chris' grin and Rena's shocked face and said, shrugging, "I didn't think you were serious about bringing over a girl, so I had my boy

over." He looked a little sheepish.

"No worries, Avery, but what exactly were you doing up there that took five minutes to get out of?" Chris asked. Avery grinned wickedly. "Never mind, I don't want to know." Avery grinned and nodded. "Could you keep the groaning to a minimum, though? I thought we could hang out here for a while, and I don't think that hearing whatever it is you're doing up there is gonna be the tranquil scene we hoped for."

Avery promised to keep the noise level to a minimum and went up the stairs with a goodbye to Rena. Strange, though. He was unbuttoning his shirt as he walked...

Chris and Rena settled in the game room in the house, which had a large screen TV, 5 different video game systems with a ton of games for each, and different games such as foozball, pac man, air hockey, and basketball. And to top it off, there was a mini pinball game.

"Avery's dad thinks that his son needs all of this," Chris explained. "And the old man's totally loaded, so we get a nice house with a few guest rooms along with our rooms, and anything that Avery may hint at that he, I, or one of our significant others may want. Like I mentioned that I was totally into video games, so Ave mentioned that he wanted a video game system, but didn't know which one, so his dad snagged all of these!" Chris laughed.

"So it's basically, want, ask, have? I guess you guys really are loaded," Rena said with a frown, remembering how quickly Chris had offered to get her a new long board.

"Oh, God no!" Chris said quickly, seeing Rena's frown and reading her thoughts to see what was upsetting her. "I have almost no cash, and Avery has less than I do. We're paying his dad back $100 a month to repay him for getting this place for us." Chris laughed.

Rena frowned a little more. "But then how come you offered to get me a new board to replace the one you lost?"

"Well, I was really kinda counting on you refusing it, but if you had wanted a new one, I would have gotten an additional job to the 3 that I already work," Chris explained, grinning at her money problem.

"Why so many jobs? I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to pay $100 a month," Rena commented.

"I have to pay my way through college too, sweetie. My parents died when I was really young, and the people who adopted me...well, it's kinda hard to say..." Chris trailed off, hoping for the response that she got.

"What? You can tell me," Rena said softly, putting a hand on the other's arm and pulling her into a semi-hug.

"Well...okay. The father ran off as soon as the mother had a daughter, a real daughter. Then we grew up together and went through Hog...ah, school, together. Just before we got out of our senior year, we received word that our mother had been attacked by a man that had been terrorizing Britain for a while, and hadn't survived it. Actually, we learned later that it was a follower of the man who called her 'impure'. Said she was a disappointment to her family, marrying outside of the ring of supporters." Chris let an emotion show through for once, sadness, and let a tear go by accident. Thinking of Mrs. Tonks' death always made her lose control of her emotions. Rena hugged her and they stayed together for a while, moving to a couch and just holding each other.

Suddenly, they heard a crash from upstairs, followed by a shouted and oddly breathless apology. Rena grinned a little and suggested that they move to her place where it was a little quieter. Chris agreed, and they walked over there, only about a half mile, to the surprise of the girls. There they sprawled on the couch and just sat for a while in comfortable silence, Chris crawling over to play with Rena's hair and Rena leaning into the other girl. They looked at each other at the same time, and their lips brushed together lightly. They blushed and looked away.

Chris looked at the clock and cursed. "Ren, I'm sorry, but I have to run for a while. A few hours, at least. Do you want me to stop in later, or just wait until tomorrow?"

"If there are lights on, stop in if you want to, but if not, I'll be at the beach all day tomorrow," Rena said, slightly hurt and shocked at the abruptness of the announcement. "Where do you have to go?"

"Remember those jobs I told you about?" She got a nod. "Well, I'm late to one of them right now."

"Do you want a lift?"

"Nah, it's a secret place. I'm not trying to be all mean or vague or anything, but it's really a secret. We did everything over mail through a PO Box and they checked up on me totally and completely before they hired me. And they swore that if I brought anyone that didn't know about where it was, they'd fire me. Sorry, babe, but I need the cash, bad." Chris started babbling again, trying to explain.

Rena laughed a little and shut her up with a kiss, grinning. It ended quickly, but it was sweet while it lasted. "Go," she said. "I don't want you losing a job, your college career, and a nice house just for me." she laughed and smiled as Chris gave her a light kiss before running out the door. Rena heard a slight crack a few seconds after the door closed. 'Did she just apparate? No, she can't be a witch' Rena thought to herself. 'But then why all the secrets...?'

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Hogwarts, the Tonks/Willow Suite

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"Chris!" Tonks said as the above mentioned popped into the room. "Where were you all day? I've been waiting to tell the story for hours. You said you'd be gone only a short while," Tonks accused.

"Sorry, mum," Chris returned, her accent changing slightly back from Australian to British. "Didn't know I had to check in with you if I was gonna be late. And I told you it would be a few hours. It was only 3!" Tonks blinked.

"Well, now that you're here, you're way better at telling the story of how we grew up than I am. And the story of Tara an Hogwarts and stuff. Please?" Tonks gave the lip, the horrible pout that no one with a heart could say no to. Of course, Snape had that ability.

"Yeah. Why don't we do it in the bedroom?" Chris suggested. "More soft things to hit each other with and warm things to crawl under in case it gets cold." Tonks grinned at the descriptions and nodded. "Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes. I just wanna make sure no one messed with the sacred room of mine." They both grinned and parted ways.

In a few minutes, Chris went up to the room and the story time began...

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yeah, it's a cliffie. And it's still too long, even though I cut out the story and am posting it in the next chapter. And disregard the upper AN to an extent. I started this about 3 weeks ago, then went to the beach and was 2 days late for try outs in volleyball. Then I tried out and said flat out that I wanted a setting position and got blown off lightly, with 1st a 'later today', then after hearing reasons a 'tomorrow morning' which turned into afternoon. Then I was setting and giving pretty good hits for someone who never set pro before, then an incident involving a bad pass, me turning too late, and a misplaced thumb that jammed resulted in my not making the team. So I have time for you all now. Unless I get a job...

If you want to read about my woe-worthy accident, check out my journal at , under the name avril2bridges. I don't think you need to be a member to see the journals. I think I titled the journal Music Junkie. Dk for sure, tho. Next chapter in a few seconds, keep it real!


	9. Tonks' tale

1Okay, here's that second. I'm sorry. I'm bad at being mean and leaving people hanging on cliff hangers. I couldn't even do it with teachers that I hate. It's a thing that needs work. But here's the interesting story, with a little bit of talking and stuff . . . Hope you dig, but if you don't, no worries. Just don't go all mean and insulting like Joey did.

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Chris made Tonks' bed into a queen sized and sat on it, tucking her legs beneath her, while leaving Willow leaning on her bed, head propped up on hand and elbow underneath the hand. "So?" The Red head demanded. "Spill, C girl."

Chris raised an eyebrow at this and began. "This is gonna be long, so you might wanna get comfy," She said, and Willow snuggled down into her covers, head still on her hand. "All right. Well, I had myself 'born' into a wizarding family this time around. I could feel that this one was special. Lily and James Potter. They 'had' me just after they got out of school. I was about four when they had their son, Harry. I had an adult's awareness of what was going around me, and I could do everything at an adult level, though I chose to hide this from them. So when they were killed a year later, I knew it. I was slightly hidden from everyone because I was kind of...not planned. Only their closest friends and Dumbledore knew about me. When the house was destroyed, I went to Diagon Alley before the wizards could find me. I saw Mrs. Tonks holding hands with Nymphy here-" gesture to Tonks. "So I walked up to her and asked, 'do you know where my mommy and daddy are?' She asked their names and I said that they were Lilly and James Potter. She started crying a little and said that they were gone, but that I could come with her. So I did." She and Tonks looked at each other and laughed a little. "She told me to grab hands with Tonks, so we held hands while we walked through the alley, and I found out that she was seven. When we got to her place, I saw that it was a nice house. Two stories, two bedrooms, one bathroom, nice sized kitchen, a very nice place, all in all. She gave me a bath and some food, then put me in with Tonks. We grew up pretty much inseparable. We went to muggle grammar school until she was 11, but one that knew about witches and wizards. I stayed at the level that Tonks was at, wanting to stay with her. We were always like each other's comforter and confidante. Like, kids would tease one of us, and the other would stand up for the teased and chase off the teasers, then comfort the one who was hurt. Same when one got beat up or bullied."

"Of course, it was usually me getting picked on or what not, and Chris coming to my rescue," Tonks put in, making her friend blush. "She says that we would comfort each other, but she almost never got riled by anything. I would get upset at anything that people would say about me, her, or us, and she would end up standing up for me," Tonks smiled at how well she remembered after all that time.

"I'd get upset," Chris argued. "They said a lot about me to me when you weren't around to hear and get more upset. I just had a better hold on my emotions than you did. And then you were upset, so I didn't want you to get more so knowing that they got me upset."

"Oh," was all Tonks could say. "Um...I guess you can continue the story now," she added sheepishly.

"Gracias. Now, we would comfort in a kinda weird way. Well, first... we only had one bathroom, and we would always fight over it. We both wanted to shower first. So Tonks senior would always solve it. She made us shower together. So when one needed comforting or injury helping, we would do it like this. Very stealthy. Since Tonks said that I was always the comforter, I'll use one of those situations. Say Tonks got her ankle cut. I would sneak her home the back way, and come in the back door, where her mum never was near at that time of day. We'd go in, and I'd say, softly, 'we're home'. Then I'd carry Tonks upstairs and take care of her cut, cleaning and bandaging it neatly. After that, I'd hold her for a while, just let her cry into my shoulder or side, you know? Just let her let it out. Then her mum'd call us for dinner, so we'd go down, me supporting the little morpher. She'd ask us when we got home, and I'd answer that we got home a little late, which was true, and that we announced it, but she must not have heard, which was intended, but true. Then we'd eat, and Tonks and I would be in contact the whole time. My hand on hers under the table, legs wrapped around each other, that kind of thing."

"Which really wasn't that bad," Tonks added, grinning. "I rather enjoyed that part, the affection."

"Right. Well, after supper we would jump in the shower, and we'd go together, of course, since that was how we always showered. But through the shower we had poofy things that we used to wash, instead of using our hands. They hold the soap better and reach better than our hands do. So what would happen is that instead of going back to back, if she was hurt too badly, I'd go front to back, and support her so she wouldn't fall or lose her balance. And if she was really bad or just really upset, I'd end up washing her hair and letting the suds do her body. I wasn't about to wash her, but I wasn't going to let her hair be filthy, that would give the losers at school even more to tease her about. So we'd do that, then we'd get into the bathrobes that we had, and go to our room. You know, do homework, that stuff. Then we'd hit the lights and curl up in bed, and depending on how she was feeling, in pajamas, or just in the robes. And since we had a very small room, only one bed. But if Tonks was still sad, I'd put my arm out to her side of the bed and she'd rest her head on it, and roll over into me, I don't know why. Hey, why was that?" She directed this question at the pink haired and faced Tonks.

"Well, it was because you were always there, I knew I could rely on you, and that you wouldn't leave or hurt me like the others did," Tonks tried to explain. "And you were like my sister, showing sisterly affection. And you were always willing to comfort, not pulling away from me like I've seen you do with other people. Most other people."

"Right. And with that, so we would do the sleep thing and wake up the next morning with my arms around her shoulders and her curled into a little ball. When we got to Hogwarts, now that was different. I've been there a lot of times before, and they knew that it wouldn't be fair if I went through the classes because I aced them all after the 3rd time through. So I just kinda wander and sit in on classes. And I decided to stick with Tonks for a while, just see how she'd get on, you know? On her free periods I'd hang in my room with my special electricity spell and play guitar or something. Then I had a special room apart from the others, since I was technically graduated. So I had a set up where if Tonks started having a problem with her roomies, she could hang with me and spend the night, since I had a king-sized bed there. And we would do the same thing there as we did at home: I would hold her until she calmed down, even if that wasn't until she fell asleep. Then it happened... the part where we got closer than ever and Tara started coming into the picture a little. See, Tonks started hanging out with this girl, a Ravenclaw. Ravenclaws are..." Chris hesitated, thinking of the right way to phrase it. "The smart house. And most of the occupants are kind of stuck up, think they're better than the rest of the school. But this one was...oh, I forget her first name. Her last name was Boot. Oh, yeah. Crystal. Crystal Boot, that was her." She felt Tonks tense and flinch at the name, and put an arm around her waist from behind, comforting the other woman a little.

"So, Crystal is the aunt of a student here, actually. Terry Boot, Ravenclaw as well. So, Tonks and Boot started hanging out, going to the library together and sitting together in classes, stuff like that. You know? And one day, apparently, Crystal did a kind of questioning thing, asking Tonks if she would be all right with it if she were a lesbian and had a crush on her. But she did it differently...

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Library in the past...

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"Hey, Tonks?" Crystal asked hesitantly. She didn't know why she was doing this, but she felt that Tonks had to know. And somehow she knew that her friend would be all right with it.

"Yeah, Crystal?" Tonks asked, ignoring the fluttering in her stomach when she heard the voice of the girl next to her.

"What if I were to have a friend...hypothetically?" Crystal started, inwardly wincing at the old story lines, a sure sign that she was talking about herself. "Say her name is...Cris. And she has a friend...say, Tonya. And the two have only been friends a short time, but Cris has feelings for Tonya."

"What kind of feelings?" Tonks questioned. "Like, I love you as a friend feelings, or like, I love you as a potential significant other feelings?"

"Potential significant other. The thing is, the two are both girls, and Cris isn't even sure if Tonk...ah, Tonya, feels the same way, or if she just feels like friendly." She started crying a little,

"I think that Cris had better tell Tonya, because I think that Tonya has had the same feelings for Cris for a long time, and was just as afraid to admit is as Cris was." Tonks leaned over to the chair next to her and wiped away the tears gathering on her friend's cheeks. "Of course, this is all hypothetical." Tonks and Crystal grinned.

Crystal got up the courage. "Tonks, I love you, and as more than just a friend," she blurted out in a rush, then prepared to be let down.

Tonks just smiled softly and said, "I love you, too. I was just afraid that you would want to stop being my friend if I told you."

"Really? That's why I didn't say..."

"This is a library! If you're going to talk, then get out!" the librarian hissed at them. They looked at each other and, grabbing their books, left the library.

"Come on," Tonks said, taking Crystal by the hand and pulling her. "I know a room that's a secret, so no one will overhear our conversation and spread it about." She felt bad, betraying Chris' trust when she had told her about the Room of Requirement in strict confidence. But she really needed to hear this out.

"Okay." Tonks led them to the room and performed the ritual to get into the room, thinking, 'I need a quiet and private place to talk.' When they went in they found a couch and a fireplace. They sat on the couch and looked awkward with one another. Tonks sighed and restarted the conversation.

"So, you really like me?"

"Yeah, Tonks. I do. And more than a friend should." Crystal decided to get it over with, just confess. "I've felt this way for a while, but I've just been afraid to say that I love you in case the feeling wasn't mutual."

"Goof ball. I feel the exact same way. And I was afraid that we wouldn't be friends any more. I wasn't willing to lose you as a friend. I mean, I don't have a lot of friends. All of the gryff girls are jealous because I can change my appearance at will. They have to do some sort of magic. I thought maybe you had that against me, and if I had told you I love you and you didn't love me, then you would desert me and I'd only have Chris again." Tonks breathed and looked over for Crystal's reaction.

"You thought I'd desert you? I'd never do that, love," the Raven said. Tonks grinned, and Crystal gave a questioning look.

"You called me love. No one's ever called me love," Tonks said, and only broadened her grin when Crystal started apologising. "Chill. I like it, Boot. It's nice to feel like someone not related loves me." She leaned towards Crystal, and curved her lips in a smile when she heard the other girl's breath catch a little.

They weren't sure who made the first move, only that somehow they were kissing. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was intense and sweet. They pulled back and gave a simultaneous "wow!" They giggled a little, then leaned into each other. After that, Tonks spent all of her time with Crystal and stopped spending time with Chris.

Chris started spending her time away from Tonks, letting her have her space. She was allowed to do anything and had access to every place in the castle, including the common rooms. This was how she met Tara.

She was lazing around the Ravenclaw common room, laying on the couch, when it happened. The couches are large and comfortable, and she was concealed by the entire thing. She was laying there with her eyes closed, not sleeping, just lazing. Tara came in, but Chris wasn't paying attention to anything, so she didn't hear it. And she didn't notice that Tara had come over to the couch she was on, at least not until Tara sat on her.

"Woah! What's you problem? You can't watch where you're going or something?" Chris yelled, shocked. She wasn't mad, she just wasn't expecting a person to sit on her.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry. I d-didn't mean it. I d-didn't s-see you." The blonde stuttered, hiding behind a veil of hair. She wasn't fast enough, and Chris noticed the tracks of tears going down the girl's face.

"Hey, what's wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry. It's just that I'm not used to having girls come in and randomly sit on me. Especially pretty girls," Chris grinned, trying to get the blonde to smile. It had the opposite effect, making the girl more flustered and upset.

"Hey! I s-said that I was sorry. I d-didn't mean to make you m-mad. B-b-but you don't have to make fun of me. I kn-know that I'm n-not pretty, ev-everyone says so," The girl started crying again.

"Hey, no worries. You didn't make me mad. I really was just surprised. And I'm not making fun of you, you really are pretty." Chris was confused.

"No I'm not! Even my f-f-father and b-b-brother say so," Tara sobbed.

Chris noticed that she stuttered badly over the words 'father' and 'brother', and raised an eyebrow to it, but made not a comment. Instead she put a hand on the other girl's arm and said, "Hey. I'm Chris Tonks. Well, really Chris Potter, but there's a long and boring sob story to go with that which would have you crying like a newborn babe." She held out the hand that wasn't all ready on the girl's arm.

"T-Tara McClay." she took Chris' hand. "Are you in R-Ravenclaw? I've n-never seen you around here b-before."

"Another long and boring story. But basically I'm a student that doesn't have to take classes because of a reason I don't want to talk about right now. I can attend if I want to, but I don't feel like it. So really I have free run of the castle, within reason. I have all of the passwords. I'm kind of like a teacher, but without the pay and the work," Chris grinned at the stuttered version of this, liking this Tara, but not sure if she could trust her with the real story of hers yet. She never even told Tonks who she really was. There was no way she was going to tell Tara yet. The last time she had done it...well, it's best not to think of that right now. "So what year are you in, Tara?"

"My 4th year."

"Really? I've never seen you in the classes before. I hang around with my fourth year adopted sister, Tonks. Really I'm two years younger, but like I said, it doesn't matter since I don't take classes. And Dumbledore knows it. In fact, he decreed it in case any teachers coughSnapecough try to give me any trouble. Tonks is in Gryffindor house, so I have a private dorm room just outside of that common room. Want to go there so that you can get cleaned up with no more interruptions?" Chris smiled, realising that she was babbling. There was something about this girl that just got her.

"Tonks? Y-you mean N-nymphadora? Sh-she's going out with my roommate, C-cr-crystal."

"Yeah! Hey, if she's your roommate, you know about her, right?" Tara nodded. "Can you tell me about her? Like, is she reliable? Is she gonna break Tonks' heart? Can she be trusted?" Chris got excited. She didn't like Crystal, there was a bad vibe that came off of her.

"Well, I don't know her that well. She's more out going than I am, and she has the other girls that are in our dorm to talk to and stuff. And she's usually the one to make fun of me first when something's not right. She seems like the kind that would turn on even the most loyal people to her. But I may be a little bit biased because she's always picking on me."

"I'm sorry that I'm jumping on you like this, but I don't want Tonks to get hurt. She's my sister, and what effects her effects me. Even now. She's happy with her smart, stuck up girlfriend, and I'm stuck wandering the halls miserable because she won't spend time with me anymore. Could you do me a favour?"

"That depends on what it is," Tara said, slightly suspicious of what it was.

"Just keep your ears open when Crystal's around. I would do it, but she knows that I'm Tonks' sister, and she wouldn't say anything that she was going to do in front of me."

"Okay. I can do that. I mean, I can try to hear if she's going to do something," Tara smiled, and Chris smiled back.

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"So it went on like that for a while, about half the school year. And it all started in September of the fourth year. Tonks and Crystal were friends from the previous year," Chris said. "Tara and I got really close in the four or five months that Tonks was wrapped up in her girl toy." Then, like I said, about four or five months in..."

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Chris' Room near Gryffindor Tower

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Tara rushed up to Chris, slightly out of breath. "Hey, Tara. What's up?" Chris grinned, happy to see her friend. The grin went away when she saw the look on Tara's face and the fact that she had run all the way to see her. "What's wrong, Tara?"

"Chris! Finally, I've b-been looking all over for you," Tara gasped, getting her breath back. Chris frowned at that. Tara never stuttered around her anymore, she hadn't for two months.

"What's wrong? And why did you wait until now to tell me? It's way past curfew."

"I know. But I heard Crystal talking to one of the others. She said that she was leading Avery Knott down to her secret room, whatever that means, and that she was sure that she would be done before Tonks gets there. That didn't sound too good, and it was a few hours ago. Was Tonks meeting her in that room tonight?"

"Wow. I think that's the most I ever heard you say. Sorry, yeah, Tonks actually talked to me for once, asked me to cover for her if a teacher came looking, because she'd be out all night, starting about half an hour ago. Woah, you don't think Boot is cheating on my sister, do you?"

"I think she is. She's been sneaking out, and then a few minutes later Tonks will come over to the girls in our dorm asking where Crystal went. Then she walks away, disappointed."

"Tara, we have to get to that room and stop my sister from getting hurt," Chris said, standing up.

"How? We don't know what room they were talking about, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, in this castle," Tara said, a little upset at what her room mate was doing.

"I know what room they were talking about," Chris said grimly. "I just can't believe that Tonks took her girlfriend there after I told her never to reveal its location. It's called the Room of Requirement. It's a few levels down, and there's a secret to get into it. It's secret is that it becomes what you want or need the most when you do what you need to to get into it. So you could get a training room, a magic proof room, a room that can use electricity, or a room with a cozy fire and a nice bit bed with fluffy pillows. And in that room, you can make it so that the headmaster doesn't know what's going on in it." Chris explained, getting her shoes on to go out to the room. "Are you going to come, Tara? I may need someone to keep me from killing Crystal if she's already hurt Tonks."

"I'll come with you, if you can keep me out of trouble in case of getting caught," Tara said, not wanting to get in trouble, but wanting to be there for her friend.

"But of course, mademoiselle. Now come on, let's go!" With that they raced down the staircases to the Room, and stopped outside. Chris listened carefully, nervous about what was in there. She heard gentle crying, and slowly opened the door, just in case her sister was in the heat of passion. What she and Tara saw was Tonks, sitting on a big, comfy couch, crying quietly. Chris ran over to her right away.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's the matter, Tonks?" Chris asked, although she thought she already knew the answer.

"C-Crystal..." Tonks started, trying to control herself.

"Did you catch her in here with someone?" Chris asked, shocking Tonks out of her tears.

"You knew? How did you know?" Tonks was amazed. Maybe her sister could read minds, after all!

"Tara came to tell me that she overheard Boot talking about meeting Knott in the room, and that she figured that she'd be out before you got there. She ran all over the castle to find me and tell me before it was too late, but avoiding the patrollers made that difficult. She got to me about five minutes ago," Chris explained, putting her arm around her sister's shoulders and letting her lean into her.

"Tara? Who's Tara?" Tonks asked, not caring, just wanting there to not be silence.

"I-I'm Tara," Tara started to stutter around a new person. "I-I'm C-Crystal's r-r-roommate. She n-never l-liked me, a-and w-wouldn't talk about me, n-not to s-someone that sh-she liked o-or pretended to l-like, a-anyway." Tara silently cursed at herself for stuttering. It sounded like she had a mental problem.

"So you told Chris?" Tara nodded. "Thank you, so much. I need her right now, maybe more than ever. But I was afraid to go out into the halls like this. If Peeves saw me..." she shivered. Then smiled a little and held out an arm to Tara, inviting her into an embrace. "Thank you," she whispered as Tara went into it and returned it. "You got the person that I need the most. And you risked a lot trying to get to Chris to tell her what my sister was planning. That's really sweet."

"I wasn't about to let you get hurt if I could help it. Or if it happened, then I couldn't let someone go through that alone." Tara smiled, glad that she was relaxing enough to stop stuttering. She leaned into the embrace without realising it. Tonks did and grinned a little, despite herself. She rested her chin on top of Tara's head.

Chris noticed as well. She smirked and said, "Hey, McClay! She just broke up with her girlfriend. Do you really want to be considered rebound?" Tara knew that she was teasing, but still moved away and out of the hug.

"Oy! That wasn't very nice, sis. Maybe I was drawing comfort from that, did you think of that?" Tonks was mad that Chris had stopped her from getting closer to the blonde.

"Tonks, if you start in on a relationship now, everyone is just going to think that it's a rebound, with no sticking power whatsoever. Wait a while, get to know her, then start hitting on her. No offence, Tara," Tara smiled and shook her head a little, meaning she understood. "I just don't want the school hurting you two worse."

"That is sweet Chris. And you're right, as much as I hate to admit it," Tara grinned a little.

"Plus, it'll look bad if they think you're cheating on Crystal," Chris said, getting a mischievous look in her eye. Tonks had a question in her eye, and was about to protest that the opposite was true, when Chris interrupted. "I made the room make her forget that she got caught. Tomorrow you can expose her, and do it painfully and embarrassingly for her, but right now she thinks that she had a great time with Knott, then a great time with you right after. She thinks that it was a close call, but like I said, has no idea what really happened. After you expose her, you can go to Tara."

"Chris! You're brilliant! That would teach her not to cheat on me," Tonks said. Tara frowned, and Tonks noticed. "What's wrong, Tara?"

"I didn't peg you as the type that went looking for revenge, Tonks. That's all," Tara said, disappointed.

"I'm not, but-" Tonks tried, but couldn't find the words to explain, so Chris took over.

"But... Tara, I have a connection with my sister. Any thing that she sees, I can see if I want to. As soon as you told me I tuned into her sight, and saw what happened. When she found your roommate and Knott, they were in a... compromising position." Chris was trying to be vague to spare Tonks' feelings, but Tara didn't get it.

"Compromising as in...?"

"As in neither was wearing anything, and there were...body parts shared. They were going at each others bodies like a pair of animals...it was just that old, basic instinct. When they got caught, there was more than one part of him in her body, and I'm not talking about his tongue in her mouth...although that was one of them," Chris was blushing by this time. Usually she would just say what had been happening, but she didn't want Tonks to get more upset or Tara to lose more of her innocence than she had just listening to that. Luckily, Tara got the gist of what happened and just nodded. "That hurts worse than anything. If it ever happened to anyone, even the nicest person, they wouldn't just shrug it off. They'd do something to expose the cheater."

"I get it. I do. I can see why you would want to expose her. Does Knott still know what happened?"

"He wasn't aware that Tonks had even come in, he was so caught up in the...er, passion. He has a clue that something happened, he just doesn't know what."

"Okay. I don't like it, but I guess you have to Tonks. And I understand. Just know that...whatever, you know, happens? I'll be here for you(New Moon Rising, kinda sorta.)" Tara smiled at Tonks and gave her a hug from the side, then got up. "Uh, Chris?" Chris looked up. "Can I stay in your rooms tonight? I don't think I can go to my room and not kill Crystal, especially since she thinks she got away with it. Not only that, but she thinks she got laid twice."

"Um, I think Tonks is staying in as well, but I have another guest room if you don't mind staying by yourself. See, we have a thing where when one of us gets hurt the other does the comforting thing." Tonks nodded and snuggled into her sister's side.

"I can stay in a room by myself."

"There are two beds in there. If you want a bigger bed, then just push them together and say 'join'. They form...um, I think it's either a queen or king sized bed. And if you want a different kind of bed, just say the style. Like 'hammock', or 'water'."

"Okay, thanks. But how are we going to get there? I mean, won't we get caught?"

"Well, I won't get in trouble. But if you're worried, we can use my teleporting to do it."

"I thought you couldn't apparate on Hogwarts grounds?" Tara started getting confused.

"It's teleporting. Different from apparating. All of your body parts are shifted to another dimension for a few seconds when teleporting. When apparating, your body is split into millions of parts and moved somewhere else. That's how people splinch themselves," Chris explained, reaching for Tara's hand. Tara gave it to her and closed her eyes while they left the room and opened them wen she felt solid ground under her feet.

She opened her eyes to light laughter, as Chris and Tonks doubled over seeing her scared of traveling that way. "So?" Tonks asked. "What did you think?"

"It was like my mind was part of a higher plane for a few moments. What happens, exactly?"

Well, the particles in your body are shifted to the higher plane, or I guess you call it heaven. We move at a faster pace there, where literally in the form we were in, you think where you want to go, and you're there. Only someone with total mind control can do it right. Then the particles are shifted back to our plane when you reach the destination," Tonks explained, while Chris blushed at the part about mind control. Tara looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"And how can you move in the plane, Chris? I mean, no offence, but you always seem pretty scatterbrained, always thinking about music or something," Tara quickly saved herself, while Tonks giggled and nodded.

"I have had many years to perfect it. Like I said when we met, it isn't a story for now. Not even Tonks knows how I can do these things. Only Dumbledore," Chris grinned, liking the looks she got from the others once she revealed she was hiding something.

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Next Day

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"Hey, Tonks. What's up, baby?" Crystal asked the next day at breakfast. She had seen Tonks come in without talking to her and then leave, and wanted to know what it was about. 'She can't know what happened. There is no way. I would know if she knew,' the Ravenclaw thought, putting faith in her Ravenclaw-ly intelligence.

"Oh. Hey, Crys," Tonks replied. She didn't like acting like nothing had happened while concealing that she knew. She felt deceitful.

"What's wrong, babe?" Crystal asked, putting her arms around Tonks from behind. She had not a clue, and wouldn't until Tonks told her and activated a spell that would make her remember. Just before she left the room of requirement, she required that Crystal remember everything after Tonks confronted her.

Tonks tensed a little, not enough to be noticed. She sighed inwardly and thought, 'it's now or never. I have to do it now, but make it look good and embarrass her in the process. She'd do the same to me, after all.' Tonks smiled and spun around in Crystal's arms like she normally would, leaning in for a kiss. Before she actually kissed her, she whispered, "What's wrong is that my girlfriend cheats on me with guys." With that, she broke the other girl's hold on her and faced her angrily, her hair turning a fiery red to match her temper.

As Crystal's memory came back to her, her mouth opened and closed rapidly, giving her the appearance of a fish. "Oh, God. Tonks, I'm so sorry, baby..." She reached for Tonks, but the girl stayed just out of reach.

"Don't touch me! And don't call me that! I'm not your baby any more, and I never will be! You cheated on me. Not only that, but you cheated on me with a guy! I thought you were better than that! And just to make it even worse, you took him to the room that I told you never to tell anyone about! I hope you two are happy, and I hope he can learn to love a non-trustworthy cheater! You two really deserve each other!" All of this was screamed, and by the time the students got out into the hall, Tonks was reduced to tears while Crystal had tears of her own leaking out of her eyes.

Tara was in the crowd that had gathered as soon as Crystal had grabbed Tonks around the waist. More often than not, she wished that she was Crystal, just so that she could hold the hot gryffindor. Now she watched sympathetically as Tonks broke her own heart and the heart of her cheating girl friend screaming at her for doing what she did. Tara saw that she was ready to leave and knew she was going to Chris' room, so she slipped out a few minutes before Tonks left and went up to the room, where she found Chris shaking and pale.

"What's wrong?" The blonde asked, putting her arm around the other girl.

"I can feel Tonks' pain, Tara." Chris sobbed. "It's nearly killing her, but she knows that she has to do it. But God," heavy sob here. "She's in so much pain. Tara, she still loves Crystal. It's going to take a while for her to heal from this one. But..." Chris hesitated slightly. "She has a feeling deep down, one she doesn't know about. Tara, she has feelings for you, and I know that you have feelings for her as well. Tara, will you be there for her while she heals, then after? I'll be there, sure, but I'm not girlfriend material for her. I'm her sister, no matter adopted or not."

"How did you know that I love her?" Tara asked. Then, remembering the request, added, "I'll be there for her for as long as she needs me. But she'll have to deal with my family if she ends up getting too close to me, and they're...well..." Tara trailed off, thinking about her father, who was abusive and used to having his own way. Then her mind drifted to Donny, her brother, who just went along with their father to get love from the older man. She shuddered involuntarily, and found an arm around her shoulders.

"I know about your family, Tara," Chris said gently. Tara opened her mouth, and Chris put a finger over the lips to silence them. "I managed to get your male relatives to stop beating on you for about a week, don't you remember?" Tara shook her head. "Ah, I guess you wouldn't. It was this summer, and I showed up as a girl about Donny's age. Blonde, about his height. What you didn't know was that I made a deal. As long as I was Donny's girl friend, they wouldn't touch you."

"That was you? But you didn't show that you knew me," Tara said, shocked that she knew the girl that gave her temporary relief. Then she blushed as she remembered the sounds that came from the room every night that week.

"Yeah, I had to go to extremes with your brother on order to get them to not hit you or abuse you at all. They said that the only way they wouldn't do anything to you was if I acted like we were two crazy lovers. I didn't like it, but I didn't like what they were doing to you more. I'm sorry it didn't last longer, but your brother was just too nasty to stay with for even that short length of time."

"It's okay. I was grateful for that short time, anyway. It was nice. I actually got homework done without an injury for being a freak." They both laughed a little, and the tension was broken.

"Hey, Tonks is almost here. Ready to comfort?" Chris asked, making it sound like a joke while being serious. Tara nodded and went over to sit on the couch while Chris wandered around, looking for a book to read.

Tonks burst into the room looking upset. "Tara? I saw you in the crowd. You heard the whole thing, didn't you?" She started crying a little bit, upset by the whole day.

"I saw a part of it, but left before you really started yelling. I've been her for a while now," the blonde was honest with Tonks.

"So was I too mean? I mean, what I said was hurting me, but I couldn't tell if it had the same effect on both of us, or if I was the only one that cared," Tonks' voice was bitter.

Tara noticed and put her arms around the Gryffindor, smiling a little as Tonks leaned into her. "It looked like she was upset, but it may have been because she knew she had gotten caught," Tara offered gently. Tara felt her heart break as Tonks sobbed into her shoulder at the thought that Crystal only cared about her reputation, and not her girlfriend.

At this point Chris had found a book and retreated to a corner of the room where she wouldn't be noticed and tried to calm down, knowing that she had to be the strong one that night when Tonks stayed over like she probably would. If they were both upset, there would be no one to do the comforting. And as long as Tonks had such strong feelings about this, she would project them, though not on purpose. By doing that, Chris could feel the pain it caused and it upset her that Tonks got so hurt. They all sat around for a while and just did nothing, Chris read and Tara comforted Tonks. After a while, Tonks fell asleep on Tara's shoulder.

"Hey, Chris?" Tara said softly, realising that she didn't know where her friend was.

"What's up?" Chris said from the corner chair.

"Oh. There you are. Can I stay here for a while? I mean, it would be hard to go back to Crystal and her group of cronies," Tara said. "I might throttle them by accident." Chris grinned and nodded.

"I have to warn you that it's pretty rare that Tonks spends the night, though," Chris said playfully. Tara gently took a swipe at her. They giggled a little. Tonks woke up and asked what was up. "We're just talking. So how long are you staying this time, sis?" Chris asked in a teasing voice.

"Only a night. The others in my dorm said that they would kill Crystal or her friends if they tried to hurt me. I think I got them on my side by announcing that she cheated on me." All three laughed.

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"So some time went by," Chris told Willow. "Tara ended up moving in with me permanently, with the headmaster's permission, of course. She couldn't stand being in the same room with that girl..." Tonks shuddered a little, and Chris put an arm around her and pulled her close. "Tonks and Tara started spending a lot of time together, and eventually ended up as a couple, and graduated as a couple. But then a few weeks after they graduated, Tonks wanted to get into the Ministry, and they were 17 and living together. Tara was afraid of the Ministry, afraid of what they would do to her if they found out about the 'demon blood' in her. You know what I'm talking about, Will." Willow nodded and winced at the memory of Spike punching her girl. "They stayed together for about a year, then things got strained and Tara applied to UC Sunnydale, where she got accepted. She broke things off with Tonks, and then Tonks was pretty busted up. Around then she stopped seeing me as a sister, but more as a pretty young woman her age that she was attracted to. But by then I had gotten involved with the Scoobies, and didn't want to commit. Plus, I make it a point not to get attached to anything that can die. Makes it that much more painful when they die," Chris said this all in a light voice, like it was no real big deal, but you could see the hurt in her eyes as she said it, like it was killing her to say it without getting upset.

Tonks saw this and put her arms around the person sharing her bed, snuggling up and smiling when the embrace was returned. Willow watched in fascination as the two cuddled, comforting each other. It was amazing to her that two people could read each other without any words. She and Tara were kind of like that, but they still spoke and made sure that what they thought was wrong was really wrong. She watched as they just hugged and realised that Tonks was a lesbian. Otherwise, why would she have dated two girls?

Tonks got a thought and looked up at Chris, grinning. "What do you mean you won't let anyone close? What about this new chick, Rena?" Tonks asked. "You seem to be willing to let her in."

"Maybe. I don't know. I would be more willing to let someone who didn't find out about me by accident in than someone who just overheard me talking to someone," she glared at Tonks, remembering how she was eavesdropping on her phone conversation with her twin brother, Chrois, the god of darkness. That was the only time she'd been really angry at Tonks.

"Hey, what about Doug, your boyfriend? Aren't you, like, cheating on him by dating this Aussie girl?" Tonks had met Doug once or twice, and he was nice. A little weird, but she couldn't really talk.

"Tonks? Doug and I broke up a week ago when he complained that I wasn't spending enough time with him. He accused me of not caring about him, and when I said that I did care, that I just had important things to do for my job, he accused me of cheating and broke it off." Tonks noticed again that Chris was upset and held her again, while Willow watched amazed at the closeness of the two.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. I know that you cared about him a lot. But if he was that insecure and came to those conclusions, then he wasn't worth it." Tonks tried to comfort Chris, knowing how much it hurt. "But it sounds like you got over him and found someone great in Rena. Maybe you just need a change in gender for a while?" Chris grinned in spite of herself and slapped Tonks lightly on the back of the head.

"Are you saying that guys aren't great?" Chris pretended to be horrified.

"Well, didn't you just lose a guy and gain a girl?"

"Well... I'm letting this one go, Tonks. But next time you may not be so lucky!" It took Willow a minute to realise that they were kidding around with each other.

"So that's what happened in school?" Willow asked, speaking for the first time in a while. "That's why you two are so close? Just by the chance that Chris saw Tonks and her mom in an alley and decided that they were primo family material?" Both girls nodded. "That's pretty cool."

Both of the others were a little shocked, since they had nearly forgotten that Willow was there. Tonks suddenly panicked, realising that Willow now knew that she was a lesbian. Chris felt her tense up and used telepathy to talk to her. 'What's wrong, Tonks?'

'I really like Willow, and now she knows I'm a lesbian and may not want to be with or near me at all.' She frowned as she heard Chris chuckle in her mind. 'I fail to see the humour in this situation, Chris. Just what do you find amusing about it?'

'Sorry, babe. It's just that... how do you think Willow knew Tara? I'm telling you right now, if they had been just friends, Willow wouldn't have tried to end the world.'

'Wait...Will's a lesbian also? So I was being all careful around her for nothing?' She heard a distinct giggle in her head. 'You suck for not mentioning this before!'

'I wanted you to figure it out on your own, but you were taking too long,' Chris replied. 'Can you forgive me?' she thought, nuzzling deeper into Tonks' hair.

'Well...okay. I'm letting this one go, but next time you might not be so lucky!' Tonks teased, after pretending that she had to think about it for a second. Willow watched, not knowing what was going on, but aware all the same that something was going on between the two. Her eyes widened as she saw Tonks lean up slightly and kiss Chris in a pretty passionate way, not just a sisterly way. Unless sisters started using tongue in that way without her knowing it. 'Wow. Tonks is a lesbian too. I wonder why she didn't tell me,' Willow thought to herself. Chris picked up the thought and grinned, a bit wickedly.

"I think I'm gonna go now. I promised Rena that I'd go back over to her place after I finished the secret business that I was handling."

"You had secret business?" Willow asked, worried. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have taken less of your time." Willow didn't like the thought that she had taken time from a secret project of Chris'. It could have been something to end the next war or something.

"Will? This was the secret business," Chris explained. "I can't tell Rena that I'm going to a secret school for Witchcraft and Wizardry to tell the story of a friend and another friend to yet another friend. She'd think I didn't think she was important or something. Anyway, I gotta go. Why don't you two... I dunno. Talk or get to really know each other," With a wink and a wave, she teleported out of the room and into hers, where she had a mental tab on the other two, waiting for them to admit their feelings. 'It may take a while,' she thought. But I can multi task while I'm chillin with Ren.'

Tonks and Willow looked at each other, realising that Chris had left Tonks' bed as a queen sized.

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hope you liked it! Man, that was hard to write. I had it all planned out in my head, then when I went to write it, it flew away like a little birdie. So I got it back, and it all went really slowly.

If anyone cares, this was fun to write, but kind of weird. Sorry this is soooo late. I wanted to get it up before the summer ended, but then I got into a deep depression over the volleyball team and it was pretty sad for a while. I probably would have had everyone go loco and kill everyone else! And I swear, I didn't mean for it to be 18 pages long. Again, it just kinda...you know, happened.

Thanks to any reviews I may get, and people who might have me listed, please review? Don't make me get down on mangled, ruined knees to beg. Cuz I will. And hey, Chicklepea? No worries, it takes a while to finish my fics. It's cuz I have too many ideas and don't know where to stop.

Peace and love

Chris


	10. classes and more classes

1All right. I'm starting this on October 1st. Just for the record. And it may be a little depressing, because I'm in a state of deep depression after watching a volleyball match. Just wait until I make the national youth team, then I'll show them that I was good enough and they shouldn't have not chosen this injured girl over the broken fingered one! Okay, maybe not, and I am starting to get over it, it's just kind of hard, and this is really why I got the livejournal. Right, got it. Anyway, this chapter should focus more on the Terrible Trio-erm, sorry, the Dynamic Duo! Lol! And the scoobies should be pretty prominent here as well. Maybe one scene in Aussie land. Not quite sure. I'm leaning towards thinking that this chapter may be shorter than the others, which is of the good. Actually, I changed my mind. I like finishing off days, so just for a quick overview: Australia, then Will & Tonks' room, then moving on to the next day where there is prominent Scooby and Dynamic Duo action.

Spoilers: s6 of Buffy, OotP of Harry Potter.

Disclaimer: I don't own what isn't mine, and you can tell what's JK's and Joss', so you know what isn't mine, namely, the characters!

Hey, as one author supporting another, let's all have a moment of silence for Malli. I don't know when or how, but she has passed on and left us. I don't know if she really died, I'm just taking the word of another author, Ringo's Wildrose. But at least her name has died, so if nothing else, grieve for that and the fact that her wonderful story, The Phoenix Child, will never be finished.

Now, I guess that's everything, so on with the story!!!

Chris got to Rena's door and hesitated. The lights were on, but it was almost midnight. She had no way of knowing if Rena was awake, or if she just kept lights on in her house all through the night. She knocked gently, and was spooked when Rena opened the door. She even jumped! Rena smiled and took her hand, pulling her gently inside, and Chris gladly followed.

"I was afraid you were asleep," Chris admitted, settling next to her girlfriend on the couch. "I mean, I know you said if a light was on, just knock, but I didn't want to wake you."

"I was waiting up for you," Rena admitted, blushing a little at the raised eyebrow. "I mean, I would have gone to bed at 12:30 if you weren't here by then, but I was definitely hoping that you would show up before then." She smiled sheepishly, and leaned into the kiss that she was receiving.

"Honestly? I was hoping that you'd be waiting for me," Chris replied. "I mean, if you hadn't been up I wouldn't have woken you, but I definitely was hoping that you'd be awake and waiting." They both grinned when they realised that they had been babbling.

They moved in closer, neither really realising what they were doing until they were right in front of each other. Suddenly, they were both hyper-aware of the other's body, and they could feel each other's breath. Then, without warning, they kissed. Nether knew who started it, just that they were kissing, and it felt good. Rena ran her tongue over her girl's lips, and Chris gladly opened her mouth to allow the other's tongue in. Out of no where, Chris broke the kiss and they both leaned against each other, breathing heavily.

"What? What's wrong? Did I do something?" Rena asked, worried. Chris gave a little smile, enough for reassurance.

"No, it's just... is this what you want? Me? My world?" She wasn't sure if she wanted the answer, but she needed to know. She needed there to be no regrets if they even just made out. After the last time she had gotten close to someone... 'well, it's better to just not think about that,' she thought, looking at Rena anxiously.

Rena sighed and leaned into the back of the couch. "I know that this is what I want. You're secretive as hell, and get all annoying when we kiss, but I still want to be with you, weirdnesses and all," Rena gave her a grin.

"Great," Chris sighed in relief. Then she grinned wickedly. "Annoying, huh? I'll show you annoying!" with that, she lunged forward into Rena's lips and kissed her passionately. After that kiss, she pulled away again. Rena groaned, and Chris grinned. "Hey, now. Stop assuming I'm going to go interrogate you again. I just want to take it slow, our relationship. I mean, we've dated for less than a week now. I just want to know you better, and have you know me better, before we go further. Agreed?" She bit her lip, anxious as to what the surfer would say.

Rena thought about it, then nodded. "Agreed. But that doesn't leave out cuddling, does it?"

"Of course not. Say, what are the chances that you have a good movie around here?"

"Is You've Got Mail considered good?" Rena asked, a glimmer in her eyes as she anticipated where this was going.

"Mm hmm. And are there any chances that you would manage to fall asleep in my arms while watching said movie?" they were both grinning.

"There is a very good chance." They laughed a little, then while Rena set up the DVD player, Chris got a blanket and a pillow from the bedroom and got the lights. They were asleep in an hour.

meanwhile, Tonks and Willow, tired after listening to the story their friend had told, decided to talk first thing in the morning. They were both aware that the other was awake, but they needed time to process the information that they had just learned.

Next day

"Morning, 'Mione," Harry yawned as he entered the Great Hall and sat down next to her. She grinned at him and scruffed up his hair. "Hey, now! It took me ten minutes to tame my hair into that style!" Harry's voice was indignant.

Hermione giggled. "You call that tame? Oh, Harry, I made it neater than it was, trust me!" Harry thought about this for a moment, deciding whether it was an insult or a compliment. He decided on a huge sigh and giving Hermione a kiss, much to the amusement of the Gryffindors that were in the hall at the time. They separated to cat calls and wolf-whistles. They were blushing furiously over what they had piled on their plates when they got their schedules.

"I've got Double Potions, then Defense Against the Dark Arts, then lunch, a break, and Herbology last," Hermione said, looking at her schedule for the day. "What about you?"

"Potions, that's still with the bloody Slytherins," he scowled as Hermione grinned. "Then Defense, lunch, break, and Herbology. Same as you," they smiled. An owl dropped a letter by Harry's plate. "Oh, I have a meeting with Dumbledore today during my break."

"I wonder what he wants?" Hermione was curious, since usually when Harry was called to the Head's office, nothing good came of it.

Harry shrugged. "I dunno. Hopefully I'm not in trouble already," they grinned. The bell rang, and they took off running for the dungeons. "Come on, 'Mione. We can't be late first day of Potions, Snape would give us a month's worth of detentions." They sprinted down to the dungeons and made it two minutes before the bell rang. There was no one else in the room, so Snape, having pity on Harry, told them in a nice voice to sit down and be potions partners for the year. They smiled gratefully, and he warned them just before the Slytherins entered the room that he would still have to have a nasty way with them during the year. Hey nodded in understanding and went to their seats.

"Welcome, to those of you who actually managed to pass the OWLs and get into this class. I am surprised at the number of you who managed to make it into this course. Some of you," he glanced at Draco, who smirked smugly. "Some of you, I knew would get in. Others, however..." he glanced at Neville, who had somehow managed to make it into the class. "I have no clue how you managed it." He went over to Harry and Hermione. "Well, well, well. I see that Weasley has not returned to be with us today. Such a shame, you three made a nice group. Brains, bravery, and stupidity. Yes, a good match indeed." he smirked. "Ms. Granger, I do hope you can keep your friend out of trouble this year? I am rather tired of hearing about cock-and-bull stories that came from him," Snape drawled. The snake house laughed while the lions tried to control their tempers. They were all surprised to see Harry holding his temper in, though. He just raised his eyebrows and glared a little, for effect. Snape just raised one eyebrow.

For the rest of the lesson, they brewed Veritaserum, or started up a batch, anyway. They were all spooked by the advanced spell being done the first day, bet were afraid to complain or ask why. Harry and Hermione assumed that the potions made correctly would be used in the Order. Snape ended up cleaning out Neville and Seamus' cauldron before it exploded. The bell finally rang, signaling the end of the double period, and the Gryffindors headed up to the Defense classroom, which they shared this year with Ravenclaws. That wasn't that bad. They knew some of them from the club that Harry had started up the previous year.

Buffy and Spike walked into the room. "Hey, everyone. I'm Buffy. That's not professor Summers, or Professor Buffy, just Buffy. The Professor makes me feel old. And this is-" she looked at Spike. "Would it be Professor Spike, William, William The Bloody, Professor William...what?"

"That would be Spike to you bits," he nearly growled. He hated it when Buffy egged him on like that. "Now, first we're covering Vampires, and we're sharing time with Professor Giles, who insists on being called Professor," Spike smirked. "So Buffy and I go over fighting techniques, and Giles goes over anything that he deems necessary, or stuff that he knows better than us, which isn't much, I might add." the class laughed at that. "Just a highlight of what will happen, First, Vampires. Who they are, what they are, how they become the way they are. Ways to kill them, ways to identify them. Spells to fight and kill them. We'll go over a few famous vampires and groups of vampires. Then we go over the Slayer, which Giles will help with because he knows the speech better than anyone else. Bloody ponce lives for making the 'Chosen One' speech." He raised an eyebrow as one of the kids from his old house raised their hand. "Yes? The Ravenclaw."

"Terry Boot, sir. Isn't the slayer a myth? I mean, one girl to fight the forces of darkness? A girl that is that strong? Sounds like a load of rubbish that is just told to scare little kids into behaving and keep the demon population at bay," the boy said, sounding smug.

"I wouldn't go there, boy," Spike growled, while Buffy looked dangerous. "For one thing, there are a bunch of girls in here that could probably give you a good whipping for that crack about strong girls, and for another, I happen to have met...oh, let's see now...5 slayers personally." he smirked at the astonishment on Terry's face. "Anyone else have anything to say about this?" everyone shook their heads. "Good. Now, Buffy, do you want to get on with a talk?" She nodded and went up to the front of the room.

"Okay, so who can tell me what a vampire is?" she saw the hand of a bushy-haired, red-robed girl go up. She was sitting next to a boy with black scruffy hair. "You. Ms..." Buffy left the blank for the girl to fill in.

"Granger. Hermione Granger. A vampire is a person who was bitten by a vampire, but instead of just getting drained, drank from the vampire and became undead. A demon possesses it's body, and the person, though they may have their memories, is no longer that person. They have a dire need for blood, any blood, though they seem to prefer humans, for the most part." She got a proud look from Harry, and she grinned at him.

"Excellent. 10 points to the Lions." the bell rang. "Oops. Lost track of time there. Okay, I don't have the classes memorized yet, so the next time we meet, we can pick this up where we left it. And come with open minds, please?" Everyone nodded and left after packing up. They all went down to the Great Hall for lunch.

Harry walked down to the Head's office after he was finished, with Hermione saying that she'd wait for him in the common room, or if he didn't show up, she'd be in the greenhouse for Herbology. He smiled his thanks and left. He called out various candy names until he hit 'blood pop', and the door opened. He was surprised to see not only Dumbledore, but all of the new teachers, as well. "Professor? Erm...professors? What's going on?" he asked a bit stupidly. Dumbledore smiled kindly.

"My dear boy, I was going to hide it from you before I remembered how much you hate surprises. Now, this information is very secret. You may not tell anyone, not even Hermione, do you understand me?" Harry nodded. "Good. Pro...erm, Buffy, is a vampire slayer. Her friends here are Xander Harris, a muggle with a loyal heart who has stayed with her since they met, Anya Jenkins, a Former vengeance demon, now loyal to the slayer, Rupert Giles, a former watcher, Buffy's, in fact, before he got fired. Then there is Dawn Summers, Buffy's little sister who is very gifted in demonic languages and knowledge. And then there is Spike, a vampire that had his soul restored. They are all here to help defend you."

Harry's mouth fell open at the revelations of who and what his professors were. "Actually, we have a friend, Willow, who could easily kick this dark Wizard's ass....what's his name again? Bloody Mary?" Harry opened his eyes farther and his jaw hit the ground at the slayer's open mockery of Voldemort. "Any way, she could take care of your problem, if she wasn't in magic rehab." All of the scoobies looked sad at this.

"What happened? Why is she in rehab?" Harry was just curious, and he noticed Dumbledore's eyes shining mischievously.

Xander answered. "There was this thing, where Willow had a girlfriend. Only this total jerk went and shot the girl right after they had...you know." Xander tried to stop all of the fantasies running through his head. "So Tara gets shot, and she dies in Will's arms. It was tough on all of us, I mean, she was one of us. So Willow taps into some seriously dark magic and goes on a rampage. She flays the guy who shot Tara. Alive. And then Giles gave her this major whammy of Earth magic, and she felt all of the pain and suffering of the world, which was what Giles wanted. He thought that the compassion she felt would bring our old Will back, but it just made her end the world. Or try to. But I got to her and made her stop by telling her that I love her and not backing down after she hurt me. Then she started crying and went back to the cute red-headed, green-eyed Willow that we all know and love," he finished, pleased with himself. He still had a hint of sadness in his eyes, as did all of the Scoobies that were there. Harry understood, and felt bad for them all.

"So, she's in rehab learning how to control her magic? How do you lose control of a wand?" Harry asked, not getting that part.

"Red is a Wiccan witch, she doesn't use a wand, kid," Spike answered. "She draws power from the world around her. It's harder to control, that kind of magic. If you use it too much, it corrupts you." Harry's eyes widened. Dawn thought that he would look a lot better if he got contacts.

"So, Harry, I assume that you will keep this quiet?" Dumbledore asked.

"I won't say a word. It's their business whether or not they tell any one who they are," Harry replied.

"Good. And Buffy has agreed to teach you in the ways of muggle defense and fighting, along with weaponry. They will occur Mondays, directly after lunch," Dumbledore added. Harry grinned at this, wanting to learn how to handle himself in a fight. "You may return you your common room. I assume that Hermione is waiting for you?" Harry nodded, and with a thank you, walked out of the room.

He went to tell Hermione, but remembered that he promised not to. When she asked what happened, he answered truthfully that the Headmaster simply wanted him to take another course. She accepted that, and they went to Herbology.

Meanwhile, The Scoobies and Dumbledore discussed the meeting.

"So, do you think that he can keep the secret?" Buffy asked.

"Miss Summers, I assure you that he can. He himself has had things discovered about him that he'd rather no one tell about until he was ready," Dumbledore replied, thinking about being connected to Voldemort and being a Parselmouth.

"So, what about his friend? Do you think we can take her into confidence?" Anya asked.

"Hermione Granger has been Harry's friend for years, very recently his girlfriend, and is extremely trust worthy," Dumbledore assured them. He then asked a question of his own. "Dawn, how is the search in the library going? How many of the books are accurate?"

"Ah, I was afraid that you would ask about the inaccurate ones," Dawn confessed. "So far I've found about ten out of two hundred that were accurate in a few facts. Most of them go on about how the Ministry of Magic destroyed certain things or beings that are definitely alive, as we have seen in the Hellmouth." Dawn smirked. "I could probably write a reference book on the stuff that I've seen so far. And I've just been checking vampire books, since I'm cooperating with Buffy and Spike's lesson plan. After this I go onto the books about demons and demonic happenings. I think there may be something about slayers. If nothing is in the books, then tell them that I can answer the questions, right, Buffy?" Dawn looks at her sister and she nods.

"I get on very well with the librarian. She likes the facts about the people that I know and have met. And she's learned the truth about events in the Wizarding world that the Wizards made up," Anya added in her two cents.

"The Muggle Studies class is great. I love it! I can finally go on about how great television and electronics are without having people shut me up!" Xander got excited, glad that he finally found something that he was good at.

"I am pleased that you all found something to be content with," Dumbledore said, the eternal light in his eyes sparkling. "Now, I believe that you all have classes to attend to?" All of the teachers rushed out of the room, while Anya and Dawn meandered down to the library at a leisurely pace. They talked about what they had found that was inaccurate in the books, and what there really should be. They had no clue, as they walked past tapestries on the second floor, that Willow was right behind one of them, talking to Tonks at that very moment.

all right, that was shorter, and easier on the eyes, I think. More about Tonks and Will later. I think that's gonna be the pattern from now on, one chapter is Chris, Will, Tonks, the next is Harry, Hermione, and the Scoobies. Unless something major happens, then that doesn't count. That cool? Oh, right, I checked Malli's info, and she died a few weeks ago in the hospital after an accident. It doesn't seem fair that such a talented writer has died before she even got to finish her writings. So seriously, just a moment of silence? Just for respect?

Peace, love, and music to all!!!!!!!!

Chris


	11. Revelations

1Ok, I guess after a bummer review, I can still write. Dude, whoever you are, coward man, the one who reviewed anonymously, I can respond, even though that was totally rude, and you so could have worded that nicer. Well, I guess you won't get this anyway, since you won't be reading anymore.

Here's a response anyway, because I don't like being mean and neglecting people or hurting their feelings by ignoring them. Self-insert on the character Chris, huh? Yeah, you figured me out. I'm totally a goddess, and I can teleport and change my accent at will. And I can surf and I'm blonde and I don't have to breathe...and I dig girls! Duh, dummy! I'm straight, normal mortal, brunette, I need oxygen, I'm pretty much stuck with an American accent, and there is nothing special about me. I just used that name because I suck at coming up with names. Like, I know people with the names Chris and Rena, but the personalities are totally different. I would totally fight at the drop of a hat, the character tries to just fight for protection. The only things we share are a name, and not even that, and that our eyes change color in high emotional times. Like right now, they're pretty much black, and black is pretty much pissed off. Other colors I need contacts for. And how did you know that I knew wizards? Wow, we have a psychic reviewer here, I'm amazed! Not really. It's all fiction, that's why it's on I do see where you're going with the couples, though. So an explanation there.

Giles likes McGonnagal, McGonnagal likes Giles, nether wants to make a move yet. They're too shy and don't know each other that well. Will likes Tonks, Tonks likes Will, they're getting around to that this chapter. Anya and Xander-together, the left at the alter thing never happened, they are madly in love and shall stay that way forevermore in my eyes. When Dawn and Draco meet, probably next chapter, a love- hate relationship shall form there. So there are no complaints there, Draco can't believe that he's falling for a muggle(not really) and Dawn can't believe she's fallen for a jerk. They work that all out, but I won't say how. Buffy and Spike have their love-hate relationship going for them. And Chris has Rena, the Aussie and secret Wizard. The person she was with before, the no show named Doug, was too out of it, so I just kind of got rid of him. It felt wrong having a character cheat on a boyfriend. Is that a little better, for any confused people?

I can see where you come from on the fact that some paragraphs are confusing, but when they are, it's most likely meant to be that way, in full babble mode. Or there are references that will be explained later. Just stay calm. It'll be explained once I figure out what I've said that needs it in the end. Like, eventually, everything is going to come out about the goddess' past and life to Rena, after...well, I won't give it away, or else it's spoiling what's gonna happen, and then it's not worth reading, which shouldn't matter, since this dude told me that it's not worth it anyway. If anyone wants to tell me that I'm not totally horrible, I'll take it. Or if someone wants tot say that it's not good, but can offer ways to make it better other than "it sucked and I don't know how I stayed with it for this long", that would really be appreciated. Please??? And I'll try to fix what was wrong with my chapters, just so that I don't get bitched out again.

Spoilers: OotP, season 6 BtVS, but a warped season 6.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, okay. They're either Joss' or J. K. Rowling's.

any more comments? Questions? Concerns? I know that was rhetorical, but let's just get on with it, shall we?

Willow and Tonks sat down in the morning, facing each other after a good breakfast. Tonks cleared her throat. "So...how long were you and Tara dating?" she asked lamely. She wanted to know a little about Willow, since Will knew pretty much everything about her. She wondered how it had gone with Tara, if they were happy.

Will answered, "we went out for about a year and a half, then she left because I started abusing magic, and then we got back together for a few days, and then she died," Willow finished, a bit lamely. She didn't know what to say.

"Erm...any girlfriends before her?" Tonks asked.

"No, before that I was for guys, and guys alone. Though I did always feel a connection to Buffy..." Willow trailed off, a faraway look in her eye as she thought about her best friend. She wondered what Buffy and the other Scoobies were doing. "But before Tara was Oz, a werewolf. He cheated on me with another 'wolf, Veruca," Willow said, a bit spitefully. "After that, he left to look for a way to control the wolf in him, and Tara and I met during a wicca meeting at the college that we went to. We started hanging out, and then Oz came back with the wolf tamed and wanted me back. Long story short, he wolfed out after smelling me on Tara, and these guys captured him, and Tara told me to follow my heart. Then we rescued Oz, that's me and Bufy and Xander, and I told him that even though he was special to me, I loved Tara. Then he left and I went to Tara's room and told her that she was my choice and we were together ever since," Willow finished, cursing silently after her babble session. She noticed Tonks looking interested, with an eyebrow raised and a slight grin on her face.

"That was one of the most confusing things that I ever heard, but I got that there was a boyfriend who was a werewolf before Tara, but he cheated with another wolf, then you met Tara. While you were 'more than friends' but less than lovers, the wolf came back and asked you to be his again, and you ended up sending him off and choosing Tara after he got captured and you and your friends saved him," Tonks summarized, grinning. Willow blushed. Had she really just babbled that much? She nodded that what Tonks had just said was more or less right. "Wow. And I thought I had a complicated life," Tonks joked, getting a laugh from Willow.

"Wow, I'm sorry, the babbling just kind of happens to me," Willow apologised. She blushed again.

"Ah, don't be," Tonks said, waving it off. "I get worse babbling from Chris all the time. It's a bit scary, but it all comes together eventually." she grinned wickedly. "Plus, when she does it, I usually stop it."

Will noticed the grin and couldn't stop the question from coming out of her mouth. "How do you usually stop her babbling?" As soon as she saw Tonks' grin widen, she braced herself for something weird.

"Usually a set of lips touching hers in a kiss shuts her up," Tonks said innocently. Willow thought about what she just said, then laughed at the terminology.

"You talk weird," she accused. "Normal people would just say, 'when she starts, I stop her with a kiss'," she laughed, and after Tonks thought about it, she started laughing as well. "Actually," she commented after she had calmed down a little, "Tara used to do the same to me when I started babbling."

"Really?" Tonks asked, wanting to hear about this.

"Mm hm. To be honest? After a while I babbled on purpose just to get a kiss sometimes," Willow admitted. "Did you ever do that?"

"Unfortunately, I didn't have the problem of babbling," Tonks answered. "I was so much of a freak that I didn't want to give others even more of a reason to make fun of me, so I just stayed quiet for the most part." Tonks got a sad look in her eye, and Willow noticed it. She put a hand on Tonks' arm.

"You should not have had to go through that, Tonks," Willow said, serious. Tonks smiled gratefully. "It wasn't fair to you. And you have good opinions, they shouldn't have been silenced." Tonks grinned at her and brought her own hand up to touch Willow's. Willow let her eyes stray to their hands. "Oh! I'm sorry, I just let my hand go, and my brain has very little control over what I do, and I don't think very much and..." she was silenced by Tonks' finger to her lips. She opened her mouth to apologise again, but shut it and glared when she noticed Tonks trying and failing to not laugh. "Hey! That's not very nice!" Willow chastised, speaking around the finger. She couldn't help but notice that the finger's skin was very soft.

"Sorry!" Tonks gasped out. "But it is funny. I mean, this is the second time in an hour that you've started babbling. I think it's a record!" Tonks started calming down a bit. She didn't realise that she still had a finger over Willow's mouth.

"Uh, Tonks?" Willow asked. She got a glance in reply. "Um, your finger is really nice and all, but could you take it off of my mouth? I like talking." Tonks blushed and removed her finger. What was she thinking? She didn't know if Willow had switched teams again or not.

"Sorry. I tend to forget things, and it just happens and my finger did it on its own, I swear, and..."She found herself silenced by a tentative kiss, just a light brush against her lips, but more than enough to shut her up. She let it happen, then let out a breath she wasn't aware that she was holding when Willow pulled away. "Right. Well, that definitely answers the question on whether or not you're still gay."

Willow grinned, then frowned worriedly. "You are, aren't you? I mean, if you weren't then I just totally messed up our friendship, and it's all ruined and now you'll never be my friend and I'll have to return to the Coven in shame with..." whatever she was going to say was cut off by Tonks' lips on her own. Willow leaned into the kiss and was surprised when Tonks didn't pull away. After a few seconds, they broke the kiss and looked at each other.

"Woah," they both said. They giggled a little, then looked each other in the eye. Tonks cleared her throat.

"So, what does this mean? I mean, obviously we're both lesbians, and I know that I like you, but what are we?" She went into a mini babble, but stopped herself.

"Well, I don't kiss just anyone, you know," Will said with a wink, making Tonks blush. She loved doing that. "But I don't know. I mean, if this were real school, you being older and all, the answer would be easy. Teacher-student relationships are forbidden. But we're more or less the same age, and I think we're a little more mature than students, you know?" She tried to make a point, and smiled when Tonks nodded in understanding. "So maybe we could try it out? Be more than friends?"

Tonks thought for a minute. "Okay, we could try that. But we do have to be careful. Your control comes first, and I was warned that Tara had a soft spot when you started abusing the Magic. I just want to get it clear right now that I won't back down because of my feelings." She had a firm face on, and know that she had to get that out.

"Good. Because, honestly? I wish that Tara had been more strict with me," Willow admitted. "If she had, maybe we wouldn't have been in that room that morning, and she'd still be alive. Then maybe we'd be meeting under different circumstances." She grinned. "Then maybe we would have been friends for a while before this happened."

"Will? If she hadn't died, this wouldn't be happening. You wouldn't need magical control classes because you never would have lost control." They both thought about that for a minute, then grinned at each other. "So I guess something good came out of something bad, huh?" Tonks asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. But I still wish that it hadn't happened," Willow responded.

"Oh, sweetie, I wasn't saying that I want Tara dead!" Tonks exclaimed, shocked that the red head thought that. She noticed Willow grinning a huge grin. "What? What did I do?" Tonks asked, her hands immediately going up to her hair in case she did something weird to it.

"You called me sweetie. You haven't done that yet," Willow explained, giggling when Tonks brought her hands down sheepishly from her hair.

"Oh! I'm sorry, it just happens sometimes. I mean, I'm affectionate by nature, and that just comes out sometimes. B-but I mean, if it makes you uncomfortable, then I won't be all affectionate," Tonks tried to amend what she said.

"Hey, hey, it's all right," Willow soothed. "I was just commenting that you called me something other than Willow or Will. I like it, personally," She smiled sweetly, and got a grin in reply.

"So...now that we have the question of lesbianism straightened out, want to start on your lessons?" Tonks asked, switching to the reason that they were there in the school.

"Okay. What first?" Willow asked, excited.

"Well, first we have to try out a few wands. We have a large selection here that Chris brought in from Ollivander's, and there's this thing where the wand chooses the witch or wizard. You'll get a feeling when you find the right one. You'll just know." They walked into the back room.

Tonks started handing the wands to Willow, and after a while they found a good one. Willow, 14 inches, containing a slayer hair soaked in the blood of a wiccan. Weird combination, but Willow knew it was hers as soon as she touched it. And she knew that it was Buffy and Tara in her wand, she could feel it. There was a connection there. Then they started on the magic...

"Will, you need to really concentrate here," Tonks said, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "Just say the words, don't think about doing the charm. If you think, then your body is going to use the energy around you, the wiccan energy. The wand is there so that when you say the spell it draws out the energy from your body. It's safer that way." They had been over that a few times, and she could see that Willow was really trying, but it wasn't working. She just had too many years behind her as a wiccan witch, and she couldn't make her body use the wand as a channel for the magic.

"How, Tonks? I have to focus to do the spell, and know what the intentions are, so how do I do that without focusing?" Willow snapped, trying to get Tonks to back down using the same techniques she used on Tara. She didn't want to, but she wanted to go at her own pace, which for her was not changing anything at all, ever. She was surprised when, instead of snapping back, Tonks got a thoughtful look on her face. "What? Why do you have a look? Is there an idea that you wish to share?" she asked, wondering about this.

"Well...I could do a spell...it would take the ability of your body to pull magic from around you away, leaving you with only what's inside. Then you would have to use the wand in order to do magic," Tonks explained, with still a thoughtful look on her face. "It would definitely solve the problem, and it would eliminate the risk of you using the wiccan magic." Tonks grimaced. "The only problem is that it would leave you fairly weak, magic-wise, until you build up your inner magical strength."

Willow thought for a moment about that. It would benefit her, and she could be rid of the temptation to do the magic that nearly ended the world through her body. "Can you get addicted to wand magic? ''Cuz that's what happened with the Wiccan magic." Willow said, worried about that one thing.

"I've never heard of someone getting hooked on it like a drug, if that's what you mean. Some get corrupted by the power of the magic, but it's their own choice when they do," Tonks answered honestly. She saw Willow relax a little.

"Do I even have a choice on whether or not I lose the knowledge on how to draw from the earth?" Willow asked, her eyes flashing as she thought of the council, who wanted her to register, and keep a close eye on her. They'd surely say no, and do the spell anyway.

"Will! Of course you have a choice," Tonks said, shocked at the question. Did the girl really trust her that little?

Willow noticed the hurt look on Tonks' face. She thought about what could have caused it. Then she gasped! "Tonks, I trust you, it's just that I had a run in with the Watcher's Council, and from the way they acted about me being a witch, they wouldn't have given me a choice, they just would have taken my powers from me," She pouted cutely. "And I bet they wouldn't have given me the chance to learn a new kind of magic." Tonks looked at her for a second, unsure about what that had been about. "I just mean, you're giving me a choice, and that's making me want to do it," she blushed. "I mean, it as in the taking away the earth magic, not something else, because that's what we were talking about, and..." she trailed off.

"Relax. I know what you mean, Willow," Tonks said, grinning. "If you agree, then I can do it right now, and we can try to go from there, all right?" she was a little nervous about doing such a big spell, but if Willow was willing, she wanted to do it to help everyone and make Willow, as well as the world, a safer place.

"Go ahead. I'm not scared," Willow challenged. She didn't know why, she knew that she had a choice about this, and she knew that if she said no, then the answer was no. It was just in her to challenge someone to take her powers away. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, it's just...well, I don't really know what that was. It just came out and felt natural. Tonks?" she added, noticing that her apology was being slightly ignored. Tonks, meanwhile, was deep in thought.

"Is the darkness still in you, Will? I mean, can you feel it pushing and trying to break through still?" Tonks asked, still thinking. Willow nodded, confused. "Then I think that we should do this spell really soon. It sounds like the dark witch is starting to slowly take control again. And with all of the magic around Hogwarts, it won't take much for her to get the power high." Willow's eyes widened in shock as she realised that Tonks was saying that she could go over to the dark side again.

"Do it fast, then. Please, Tonks!" Willow cried. She didn't want to go over again, she remembered what it felt like, and she didn't want to go there again. "I can't stand it if I go over again. It was so dark, and I could feel everything that was happening in the world, and it was so painful, and all of the dark thoughts! You can't imagine the darkness in her! The one that shares my body!" she was babbling, and making almost no sense.

"What do you mean, 'the one that shares your body?" Tonks asked, having caught that phrase. 'How can there be two people in one body?' she thought, then remembered Quirrel. 'Oh. That's how. Possession.'

"A while ago, I brought Buffy back from the dead, and a dark spirit from another dimension came through and kind of possessed me. It's not in control most of the time, because I have my guard up, but when I get really emotional, it comes through and takes over," Willow explained, or tried to. She took several deep breaths to try and calm down. She could feel the dark witch trying to break free, but after last time, she wasn't about to let that happen. She felt a slight surge, but it was weak. She opened her eyes and looked at Tonks, pleading. "It's the spirit of a witch. A dark witch. Literally. Black leather clothes and solid black hair with eyes to match. Then the blue vein-y slashes that only come when serious dark magic is present..." she trailed off, shuddering.

Tonks was looking on with sympathy and understanding. She knew that she had to do the spell right then, so she took a deep breath and said it fast while both witches in the red headed body were distracted. First to get rid of the magic ability, so that the spirit couldn't draw on the school's magic to protect herself. She started out in a soft voice, so as not to alert the two that she was starting. It was more of a chant, and it took three times through it before it worked. "Magic of the earth, you cause only trouble, to those who know how to use you. Here is a witch that wants to know how to use you no more, so release her body from the knowledge of your power. Magic of the earth, you cause only trouble, to those who know how to use you. Here is a witch that wants to know how to use you no more, so release her body from the knowledge of your power. Magic of the earth, you cause only trouble, to those who know how to use you. Here is a witch that wants to know how to use you no more, so release her body from the knowledge of your power!" she ended in a shout, and there was a flash of light around Willow. The red witch looked shocked and scared. Then, suddenly, her hair and wardrobe changed. She was the dark witch that had been described to her.

"Why you pink haired little bitch!" a voice bellowed, deeper than Willow's. "What was that, huh? Something to piss me off? Well, have a taste of me when I am mad!" she brought her hands together and started to chant something, but stopped when she realised that the magic wasn't building up. "What did you do to me?!" she cried. "Give me my magic back!"

"Not on your life," Tonks the Auror snarled, in a voice as cold as an iceberg. "Now, _Necromancity!" _She shouted, using a spell to un-possess someone from an evil spirit. Or a spirit in general, really. The original owner of the body would remain, and the intruder is banished to where they came from. She grinned in satisfaction as it worked and the darkness went out of her friend, leaving a red headed, green eyed woman in its wake, but then she looked on in horror as Willow collapsed. "Will!" she cried, running over.

"Oh, god. Willow! Wake up!" Tonks was starting to worry as she shook the red witch and got no response. "Ok, ok, what do I do? Right, is she breathing and does she have a pulse. I should check that. All right," she saw that Willow was breathing, and felt a weak pulse, but a pulse all the same. "Okay, so you are alive. So why aren't you awake?" she asked no one. "Right, er... I know what to do. Get you onto the couch, use smelling salts, and some kind of cold thingy on your head. Right. _Mobiliarbus_," she said, levitating the body to the couch. She conjured a cold pack and some smelling salts. She waved the salts under Willow's nose while putting the cold pack on her friend's head. She didn't know, but if it was anything like getting drunk, she was going to have a really bad headache.

After a few minutes, Willow groaned, saying, "Oh, my head. How much beer did I drink?" Tonks grinned, and pressed the ice pack onto Willow's forehead more, getting a gratified look in return. "What happened back there, Tonks?" she asked softly. "I feel like I got hit with a truck."

"Well, you were distracted, so I did the spell to take away the ability to do wiccan magic, then that black witch took over your body and I banished her from your body. Then you just kind of collapsed. Bloody freaked me out, I might add," she said, grinning.

"Any chance you could speak more softly?" Willow requested. "I feel like I have a hangover the size of the world." She groaned, and Tonks leaned over her.

"I bet I can make it feel better," she grinned, and kissed the new wand witch. They decided that the teaching was over for the day.

in the Land Down Under...

Chris woke with a start, feeling another figure curled up against her side. She grinned, and whispered, "Rena, wake up. It's morning." She shook the other woman lightly, causing her to wake with a start.

"No! Dad!" she cried, sitting up quickly and slamming the top of her head into the bottom of her girlfriend's jaw. "Oh, Chris I'm so sorry! I didn't realise that you were here or else I would have been more careful of how fast I got up," she said, giggling as she rubbed the top of her head.

"No worries. I always like to wake up with a bruised jaw," Chris replied sarcastically, rubbing her chin. She shook her head lightly to clear any pain, and leaned over, kissing Rena lightly. "Now this is how I like to wake up," she commented.

"Definitely no complaints from me," Rena said, dazed. "So, what's on for today? Let me guess, 3 jobs and a class?"

"Mmmm, nope. I get the day off. The professor called all of my places of work and told them that I almost drowned, so they gave me the rest of the week off, with pay! I'm all yours today," she added. They grinned and kissed again, then snuggled down into the couch to watch the movie that they had missed the night before. Then they went into the kitchen to get something for breakfast after it was over. Chris took the frying pan away from Rena. "Since you let me stay last night, I'll make breakfast," she grinned.

"Oh, you don't have to," Rena protested. "I invited you over, it was expected. Really, I want to..."

"Ren, cooking is one of the few things that I'm really good at. And I like cooking for others. Besides, I think that you'll like what I make," she winked. "Is there whipped cream in the house, is all I need to know?" Rena nodded, wondering where this was going. "Great. Go get washed up, and I'll start up then, huh?" Rena nodded and left for the bathroom, getting in a fast shower. She wondered what was going to be on the table that day.

Rena finished her shower and went downstairs, toweling her hair dry. She wondered what the good smell was that was attacking her nose.

While Rena had been showering, her girlfriend was up to something in the kitchen. She put a bit of butter in the pan and put it on the burner, half way hot. She got out eggs, milk, vanilla, bread, and bananas. She mixed everything but the bread in a bowl, liquefying the bananas first in a blender. She made sure that the skillet was hot, then soaked one slice of bread in the mixture and cooked it until it was cooked all the way through. Then she did it with three more slices. After the french toast was done cooking, she turned off the stove and washed everything. Then she tied her hair back and put the breakfast on the table with syrup and a can of whipped cream.

Rena walked in to see a nice table set with a delicious looking meal on it. She sniffed the air. Was that a hint of...bananas? She grinned, still toweling her hair. She looked around for her girl, and gasped when she felt someone come up behind her and put their arms around her waist. "Surprised?" came a murmur in her ear. She leaned back into the warm body behind her.

"Mmm. Definitely," she replied. "So, what's on the menu?"

"Banana french toast with maple syrup and topped off with whipped cream, to be added when eating so that it doesn't melt," was the response. Chris chewed her lip nervously. "Do you like it? Because if not, I can make something else..."

"It looks great, baby. Don't worry about it," Rena said, sitting down and patting the place next to her. Chris grinned and sat down, with an arm draped casually over Rena's shoulders.

"Okay, if you say that it's all right... dig in!" They grinned wolfishly at each other and started in on the french toast, putting the whipped cream on as they went.

"This has got to be some of the best french toast that I've ever had, Chris!" said Rena, grinning as she licked her lips. She had a bit of cream on her upper lip that she couldn't quite get to.

"Here, let me just..." Chris kissed her girl and licked the white fluffy stuff off in the process. They giggled. "So. Tell me more about yourself, Ren," she asked, settling down. "I just realised that aside from where you live now, what you look like, and that you surf, I know nothing about you. Except that you are a goddess at kissing," Chris added on with a grin.

Rena thought for a minute. "Well...I grew up in England, and when I was eleven I got accepted to a great school in Scotland. So I went until I was 18, then graduated. I was always interested in girls, I even dated a few at the school. Let's see...there was Finnigan, that was her last name. But her mum didn't approve of her dating another woman, forced her to stop seeing me and marry a man. She kept her own last name, though. Then there was a girl named Selina Catalina. She was cool, and I was with her until it was my 16th birthday. Then she decided that since she was a few months younger she couldn't be with me, because lesbianism is something that you grow out of when you hit 16, in her eyes. Then there was a woman named Brown. However, she had a sister, older, who found out and blackmailed us about what we did. So we broke it off just so that we could be sane once more. And that's pretty much it. My parents kicked me out of my house as soon as I told them that I was gay, and I ended up staying with a family that I was really close to, the Changs. They have a younger daughter, Cho, and I went to school with her older brother Jan. Cho started attending the school during our second to last year." She took a breath, and watched Chris' face. Chris kept her face neutral on the outside, but inside she was screaming. Was Rena a witch? Hogwarts is in Scotland, and all of the families that she named are all wizarding families.

"So what happened?"

"After I graduated, I wanted to get far away from Europe and my family, so I came down here to scout for something that could serve as a job and found surfing. It took a few tries, but a group of guys that taught me told me that I was a natural and could easily make a living out of it. Then I moved here and stayed. I've dated a few times, but they never stay. Usually happens in the summer, when the tourists come around. I give surf lessons, girls think I'm hot, we go out on a date, and they leave without ever saying goodbye." She looked down for a second, then looked up and grinned. "So what about you and your life? Tell me something, everything and anything." Rena was curious about this girl who she was dating.

"Me? I have a kind of weird life. I was born and raised in England as well. And parentless, but for a different reason. I was five when it happened. My parents had another baby after me, and when he was a year old, de...erm, a gang, shot out our house and killed my parents. They always told me that if anything happened to them, go down the main street of our town and look for someone to take me in. So after protecting my brother and making the men think that we were both dead, I went out and found a woman taking her six year old out for a walk. So I told them who my parents were and what happened, and the woman took me in. When I was 10 and my adopted sister 11, we got taken into a school in Scotland as well, exclusive as hell. They only let people in who have certain talents. I knew that I liked girls as well, the whole time, and did date a few times. Let's see... there was Tara McClay, she was awesome, but she belonged to my sister, so I never let it get serious. Then there was Johnson, I forget the first name. She married, her parents forced her to. There were a few girls, but I always had my eye on this one, lived with my friend Janus. I don't know, she just always struck me as date worthy, and I definitely saw her going out with girls, so I knew she was like me. I just didn't want to ruin things with Jan if something happened between the two of us. He didn't deserve that, and neither did she. After school let out, I never saw her again. Jan said that she moved to another country, more south, but he wouldn't say which. He said that she had been hurt so much that he didn't want to risk that she would be hurt again. Then he said that she was severing ties in England, just keeping touch with his family and a few others. Funny, but I never learned her name." She got a distant look in her eye, realising that Rena was the girl.

"What went on after school?" Rena asked. She had a feeling that she and Chris had been in the same school at the same time, but didn't want to risk it not being true. Telling a muggle about the wizarding world was a serious offence, severely punishable.

"After school I helped a group that was dealing with a secret war going on between a power hungry gang leader that killed my parents and the only people that had the power to take him down. I stayed with my adopted sister for the most part because we were very close. After a while, she stopped seeing me as a sister and more as a hot girl. I spent time with her, especially after her mum died. Then I got involved with the group more than ever, since it was that guy that killed her. My sister just found someone and, well, I just found you," Chris grinned, dropping enough hints so that if Rena was from the Wizarding world, she would get it. She decided to find out for sure. "Ren? What...does the name Voldemort mean anything to you?" she asked. Rena choked.

"Where did you hear that name? It's been years, but I still know it," Rena asked, shocked. Maybe her girlfriend was a witch.

"Well, he killed my parents, my foster mother, and he's the gang leader that I was fighting against. And from your reaction, I hope you know that he's a wizard, because otherwise, I'm in major trouble," Chris finished, looking hopeful and scared at the same time.

"Yeah, I know that. Only because I'm a witch, mind. And I hope that you're one as well, or else I'll be the one in trouble," Rena replied, wringing her fork between her hands, breakfast getting cold and forgotten on the table.

"Yup, most definitely. Hogwarts graduate of 2000," Chris grinned proudly. She heard Rena gasp and her face fell. What if Rena didn't like Hogwarts students for some reason.

"I was from that class as well! Bloody hell," she said. "I was a Ravenclaw, how about you?"

"I was technically a Gryffindor, but because of Tara I spent a lot of time with the Ravenclaws. I think you were in her dorm?"

"Tara...Tara...blonde, slim but muscular, giving the appearance of chunky? Quiet? That sound about right?"

"Yeah, that's her!" Chris grinned. "Funny, she said that all of the girls in her dorm were stuck up, but she also said that there was one brat, who had been dating Tonks, and 2 who were her followers. She never mentioned you, Ren," Chris said, frowning.

"I tended to stay out of the dorm as much as possible. The three giggling idiots annoyed the bloody hell out of me, and I tended to stay far away. I remember that Tara used to date a morphmagus? Was that Tonks?"

"Yeah, that was her. Oh, you mentioned the women? Finnigan has an older sister, and her son was at Hogwarts just as we were finishing up. Selina Catalina is nobody. She moved to the United States, and no one's heard from her since, though it's rumored that she is a dancer at a gay bar. Brown...her older sister had a daughter, Lavender. Surprisingly, Lavender is a bi, in a relationship with her best friend, Parvati. She herself is Lavender's confidante, the one that Lavender turns to for advice on anything. The one that you dated has a girlfriend, and even though she misses you, she has a place in her heart for this new woman. Cho just lost a boyfriend two years ago to Voldemort, he had challenged Harry Potter in a graveyard where he was about to be reborn, and the boyfriend was in the way, so a quick killing curse and it was all over. Funny thing is that Cho's a bi herself. Fancies a Weasley, the youngest with the fieriest red hair that you have ever seen, accompanied by blazing emerald eyes and a face with some color in it. Not tan, but not pale. You know? And Jan's doing great, he has a boyfriend and he's helping Cho sort out her problems as much as he can." They looked at each other. "So you were the girl that I had a crush on?"

"I suppose so. And I had a secret crush on a Gryffindor, but she never attended any classes, so I never got the chance to talk to her or ask her out. I guess that was you?" It wasn't a question, but Chris nodded any way. "Good. So, we know about each other, and I know about Hogwarts. Is there any chance that the top secret work you do has to do with the old place?"

"Maybe. Is there any chance you want to come over to the school and see what it's like now?" Chris got a mischievous look in her eye.

"Can I visit the Ravenclaw common room?" Rena started getting excited.

"But of course," Chris made Rena laugh, doing a cheesy french accent. "And no visit would be complete without you seeing Chang, of course. This is her last year, you know she's a Ravenclaw, and I think she could use a friend, I really do." All laughter was gone from Chris' face as she said this, she was serious.

"I think that may be a good idea, from what you say about her," Rena responded quietly, serious as well. "Can we go after all of this gets cleaned up?"

"I know you're anxious, but we should get into sets of robes, as well. Unless you want all of the Slytherin pureblood pricks picking on you for wearing muggle clothing? And I need to shower, any way. Let's see... Scourgify!" Chris said, waving her hand and cleaning up the kitchen.

Rena pouted. "I was gonna take care of that, since you cooked."

"Ah, I'm sure you can find a way to repay me. I know I can think of a few ways," she waggled her eyebrows in a comical way, getting a laugh. In a few minutes they were dressed and ready to go.

"You said that Jan has a boyfriend? That means that he's gay?" Rena asked, thinking about the earlier conversation.

"Yeah. Well, bi. He still loves girls, but he really likes guys too. And he found a sweet one."

"You said that Voldemort killed you parents? What was your surname?" Rena asked, curious.

"Mine? Well... Potter. Daughter of Lily and James. They had me just as they got out of school, and wanted to keep me a secret. So no one but their gang of friends and Dumbledore knew about me."

Rena put a hand over her mouth, shocked. Her girlfriend was a Potter, one of the most known families on Earth? And she was Harry Potter's sister? "Wow. That's...wow," Rena said. She was in shock.

"Yeah, well...I don't really like telling people. I usually get the pity look, like the one on your face now." Rena tried to put on a different face, and Chris grinned wryly. "Whatever, Ren. Let's just...go, huh?"

"Yeah, sure," Rena replied, still thinking and trying to clear her face. Then she realised something. "Hey, Chris? How are we getting there? I know that you can't apparate onto school grounds," Rena stated a fact known by few that weren't in Ravenclaw.

"Bloody Ravenclaw. Just hold onto me. We're teleporting. It's different than apparating, but it's complicated. Just hold on..." They teleported out.

okay, that's it for this chapter. I know, it's still long. But I tried to cut it down, OK? I just don't know when to stop. The next chapter is going to be Cho centric, I think. Just her working out her problems with an old friend.

Cheers. And flames are totally not welcome. But if someone wants to help me edit and cut down, that's awesome, and I really need the help.

Peace, Love, Music, and please review?

Chrios


	12. Cho

Ok, there is a huge apology in Malli's Phoenix Child, the same applies here. It was one thing after another and I thought that this fic was lost when someone threw the computer that has all of the files on it out in the rain and let it die completely with no hope of return. But I found my backup files on my email like I thought I never would, and now it's all hugs and puppies.

And Joe Hundredaire, like I said, you don't like it, don't read it. But don't go and threaten me, send me nasty emails, then get me suspended for a grammar problem that you imagined in a story that you have nothing to do with. It's discontinued. Or it was before someone took it off the maps. Real mature.

Disclaimer: I don't own what's not mine, namely, the characters.

Spoilers: we've been over this before, I really don't wanna say it again. Call me a sarcastic bitch, go ahead, but I'm tired and I don't wanna say it.

Okay, let's do thisཀ

"So, Chris, where is Cho anyway?" asked Rena as they got onto the Hogwarts grounds. "And how did you manage to aparate onto Hogwarts grounds? It's supposed to be impossible, not even Dumbledore can do it." Rena was full of questions and awe as she looked at her old school again.

"OK, in reverse order, it was not aparating, what I did was teleporting. It's quieter and it involves a different breakdown of matter than aparating, so it's not blocked in Hogwarts, since no one else has ever figured out how to do it. And Cho is up in Ravenclaw tower, probably cursing herself. She used to be her Quidditch team seeker, a very skilled girl, bright, popular, everyone wanted her. Now she's questioning her straightness, she's letting her emotions effect her playing and got put in reserve, and she's doing poorly in classes. Man, she's been having problems this year, but hopefully a familiar confidante will cheer her up, and maybe you can talk some sense into her, huh?"

"I can try. Uh, do you know how to get into the common room? I mean, the password's changed since we went there." Rena just realised, her hopes sinking.

"I have all of the passwords, ma cherie. Here, it's still a long walk from here. Wanna just teleport? It's less trouble from the poltergeist."

"Yeah, that sounds good. I want to get there now, after what you said about her," Rena said, anxious. "Let's just go. Like, now. Please?" Chris grinned and slung a reassuring arm around her girlfriend's shoulder, then teleported them to just outside the Ravenclaw common room.

"You want me to come in with you, sweetie, or do you want to handle this alone?" Chris asked, removing her arm. "I can stay within yelling distance if you want," she offered.

"Yeah, why don't you do that? I'll go in alone after you give me the password, and if I need you I'll yell?" Rena was uncertain, didn't know what to do. She wanted her girlfriend close by, just in case. Even if it was just so that she could prove something. Chris nodded, understanding, and gave her a light kiss on the cheek before whispering the password in the surfer's ear(knowledge is power).

Rena repeated the password to the statue of a badger. She grinned momentarily. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had opposite guardians. The sign of Hufflepuff house was a badger, and Ravenclaw was an eagle. Hufflepuff's guardian was an eagle carved into a panel of the wall, and obviously Ravenclaw's was a statue of a badger. It was a symbol of the friendship between the two founders, who were the best of friends when they met. Then her thinking time was cut short as the badger willingly moved aside for her. She stepped inside and got a blast from the past, seeing her old common room. She looked around and saw a familiar dark head sitting on one of the couches, crying. Rena took a deep breath and walked over to the couch, thinking about what she was going to say to Cho. 'Just keep it cool. She's gonna want a friend, so give her one,' Rena thought to herself as she slowly approached the couch.

Cho glanced up sharply as she heard a slightly familiar voice say, "Hey, Cho." She couldn't believe her ears, but her eyes were telling her the same thing: Rena was backཀ

"Rena? Oh my Godཀ It is youཀ How have you been? Where have you been? Did you have a good time? Why are you here?" Cho couldn't believe it. It had been years since the last time she'd seen Rena, it was the day after the girl had graduated, and the family hadn't heard from her since. "Do you have a boyfriend? Is he cute? Can I meet him?" Cho grilled, wanting someone she knew to have a normal love life she could live off of.

"Woah, woah, slow down there, babe," Rena laughed, her Australian accent slipping through. "Okay, yes it is me, I've been fine, living in Australia. I own a house fairly close to the beach. I have been having a blast, I'm a surfing instructor. Great way to get dates." She winked. Rena decided to skip over why she was there for the time being. "Um, no boyfriend to speak of, but I have a girlfriend, very hot and sweet, and you know her all ready. Chris Tonks? Or Potter? Not really sure which she uses now." The surfer girl watched in amusement as Cho's eyes widened as she realised that Rena just said she was a lesbian.

"Wait, you're gay? I didn't know thatཀ" Cho said, thinking about it. "For how long, now?"

"I was gay in Hogwarts, and I never hid it, Cho. I dated a fair few in school, I just didn't like to because for the most part I was used," she frowned.

"Okay, so you're a lesbian. Cool. That still doesn't tell me why you came. Why did you come?" Cho asked again, suspicious, her Ravenclaw intelligence showing.

Rena sighed. 'This isn't going to be easy,' she realized with a grimace. She ran a hand through her hair and started. "Cho, I came because everyone's worried about you. Chris told me what's going on. How your grades are slipping, you position on the team is almost gone, and how you just don't seem to care. What's going on, babe? I can help, I know I can." She just wanted Cho to talk to her.

"Rena...everything's wrong. My boyfriend died two years ago, and I don't feel about it. I mean, I was sad that he died, but not like I was in love with him, just like a friend. And I've been getting feelings about a Quidditch player, a Gryffindor. And it's not okay because it's one of the Weasleys." She started to cry again.

"One of the Weasleys...let me think. Ron isn't back this year, so it can't be him, and the other guys have graduated... wait, you have a crush on Ginny Weasley?" Rena was shocked. Then something clicked in her head. "Wait, is that why you're upset? You think it's wrong?" She watched Cho nod miserably. She grinned. "Aw, kid, it's no big deal, really."

Cho sniffled. "Then why does everyone treat it like a big deal? I mean, the media is anything but gay-friendly, and everyone's always slinging sayings about how it's horrible to be gay, how it's such a bad thing." The tears started flowing down her face.

Rena saw Cho's eyes overflow and reached out. "Oh, sweetie, it's not bad, really. Look at me," she instructed. Cho looked up. "Am I a bad person?" Cho shook her head. "Is Chris a bad person?" another shake, a confused shake. "Is your brother a bad person?" Cho looked at her old friend for a minute, then shook her head, wondering what her brother had to do with it. "We're all gay, Cho. Chris and I are together, and your brother's fancied guys ever since he first laid eyes on Bill Weasley."

Cho's eyes widened in disbelief. Her brother was gay? No wonder he was out on his own as soon as he could leave. He was afraid of their parents and wanted freedom. Rena saw a few emotions flicker across the younger girl's face, and put an arm around her shoulder, pulling Cho down to snuggle comfortingly. "It's all right, sweetie. Just don't tell your mum that I am as well. She'll blame it all on me, I'm sure. We got on well enough, but when we did fight it was over you," Rena smiled at the memories. "It was fun, seeing her get mad as I tried to get her to let me take you to a muggle concert." Cho started sobbing harder, knowing that she was the cause of distress between someone. "Cho, really, it's all right. Your mum is just old fashioned. I mean, she has no clue about your brother."

Cho looked up, astonished. Her mother didn't know about her brother's sexual preferences? That explained a lot about the way he acted whenever questioned about whether or not he had a girlfriend. "So Jan is really gay?" She asked incredulously. She shook her head, not believing it.

"Why do you think we never dated when it was obvious we were that close?" Rena asked, her arm still around Cho's shoulders. She figured that if Cho didn't like it, she'd pull away.

"I never really thought on it," Cho admitted, thinking more about the arm around her shoulders and the warm body she was pressed into. "I guess I thought that maybe you just didn't want to ruin your relationship, the friendship you had. I mean, dating and then breaking up, that will put a strain on even the best of friends. Right?" Cho tried to make sense.

"Yeah, I guess that's what you parents thought as well. Or told themselves, anyway," the Australian smirked. "So, what else is wrong, Cho?"

"Nothing, really. This one thing has just been bugging me for so long, and it's just got me completely messed up. I mean, I feel guilty that I never really loved Cedric like a boyfriend, and now that he's gone it's like I'm shaming him by wanting a girl. I know it's not right, but it's just got me so flustered that I can't do anything. I mean, last year, during Quidditch, I was so focused on Ginny when we played against each other that I couldn't focus on the game. Then in classes all I can focus on are my thoughts, and everything is just going horribly, Renaཀ" Cho started crying again.

"Shh, shh, it's all right, sweetie," Rena comforted, knowing this feeling well. "Listen, you know that you can always go to me or your brother now, right? I mean, we've been there. We know what's going through your head. Man, I remember when my first boyfriend in Australia died, it was horrible," Rena shuddered.

"But I thought you were gay? How do you get a boyfriend out of that?"

"Well, he knew, but he wanted to turn me to men, and I thought it would be funny, so I agreed to let him try. He picked up surfing for me so that we could do something together. Turns out he had webbed feet and I didn't know it. A Tiger Shark thought he looked tasty and bit him, then went into a feeding frenzy at the smell of his blood and...well, no one survives once one of those sharks gets their teeth into you," Rena looked sad, and Cho put a hand on the shoulder she wasn't leaning on, snuggling closer in a sign of comfort.

"God, Ren, I'm sorry. So you do know how it feels. Wow. How did you know it happened? Did someone tell you?" Cho asked.

"I was on the board next to him, trying to hit the shark hard enough to leave him alone. Funny, I forget what the man's name was, but I'll never forget his face. Or the look of horror when he realised he was going to die," Rena said, closing her eyes and shaking her head to get the memory out. "But the point here is that I want you to know you can come to me. My fireplace is connected to the Floo network, so just shout out 'Rena's place, Australia', and we can talk, okay?" Cho nodded. "Great. Now, about your little red-head problem...I bet I can help you there. Want me to find out more about her? Maybe how she feels about brunette seekers?"

"I know how she feels about brunette seekers, anyone with eyes can see that she's after Harry Potter. But maybe find out her view on brunette Ravenclaw seekers? Who may be female?" they both laughed.

"I'll see what I can do. And here's a good Australian saying that could come in handy for you, so take it to heart... no worries," Rena said, getting up to go find Chris.

"No worries? I like it." Cho said, grinning. She watched her old friend walk out of the room, and thought, 'well, I certainly learned a lot about people today.'

"Hey, Chris?" Rena called out once she was outside the portrait.

"What's up? Have a nice chat with the resident sulking Ravenclaw?" Chris asked, teasing.

"Um, I need to get into the Gryff common room, talk to Ginny Weasley, for the sanity of Cho," Rena said, looping her arm through her girlfriend's. "She's part of the reason Cho's getting all upset and weird. Cho has a crush on the little red head, and she's afraid to say anything, lest the Weasley doesn't share the feelings. So can you let me in?" Rena asked, resting her head on Chris' shoulder as they walked.

"You know I can't say no to you, sweetie," Chris responded, leaning her head on Rena's head. "Yeah, let's go. But for this one, I have to go with you, Ginny knows me, and she doesn't know you," Chris added on.

"Deal. Let's get up there, then," Rena grinned as they teleported up into the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey, Ginny," Chris said, seeing the youngest Weasley sitting in front of the fire, reading

"Hmm? Oh, hey, Chris. What's up?" Ginny responded, marking her place in the book and getting up to greet her friend.

"Mm, not much. Hey, this is Rena, my girl from Australia. Turns out she's a Hogwarts graduate, too. From my year, go figure." Chris grinned. "She has something to ask you, and talk to you about. 'Kay?"

"Er...all right. I guess," Ginny answered, looking confused. 'Why does a strange woman want to talk to me?'

"Hi. Um, listen, do you know Cho Chang? She's a Ravenclaw, about ye tall," she indicated a height with her hand. "A seeker for their quidditch team? Sound familiar?" Ginny nodded, ignoring the feeling of longing that she felt, hearing the Seeker's name. She wanted the dark haired girl, but knew that she was straight. Why else would she still be mourning for Cedric? Or use Michael as a rebound relationship?

"Um, Ginny?" Rena asked, seeing the conflict in the younger girl's eyes. Ginny snapped out of it. "Listen, I know that you like brunette seekers, from what I've heard of you, but how do you feel about one specific one? In Ravenclaw? That may not be male?" Rena was struggling to ask how the red head felt without giving anything away.

"What? You mean Cho? She's nice, sweet. She was a very good seeker, before the Triwizard Tournament, but even now her playing isn't bad," Ginny shrugged, inside screaming. 'Oh, come on, just say it. Say that you're head over heels in love with the Ravenclaw.'

Chris could hear the inner struggle, and grinned, leaning over and whispering to her girl, "She's totally smitten with the young Chang. She just doesn't want to say it." Rena grinned and nodded slightly, knowing Chris would see or feel it.

"You know, she really likes you, Ginny," Rena said casually, liking it when the young girl stiffened. A flash of happiness flashed across her face, followed by suspicion.

"And you would tell me this...why?" Ginny asked, feigning indifference. She was jumping for joy inside, but outside she was still skeptical. Why would this person she met less than five minutes ago tell her this?

"Because I'm one of Cho's old friends. I lived with her family while I was in Hogwarts after my parents gave me the boot from my house. But she's been miserable lately, if you've noticed," Rena looked at Ginny, who nodded. "Part of the reason is that she loves you, and is scared you don't feel the same way."

Ginny stared, shocked. "I've flirted so many times it's not funny, and she's not noticed that at all?" She asked, incredulous.

"I guess not. She's been pretty torn up inside. Guilty about not feeling as bad about Cedric as she should, not really loving him, dealing with the fact that she is in love with a person who she thinks is straight, dealing with the fact that she may be bisexual...that kind of stuff. And," she added in a conspirational tone, "She never really was the sharpest tool in the box. She never really notices much, too tied up in her own world. It took me some prodding to get her secret out of her. But if you don't feel the same way, no worries. I just won't mention anything to her." With that, Rena turned as if to walk away.

"Waitཀ" Ginny called out. "You're not playing around with me, are you? Because that would be really harsh."

"I don't play with matters of the heart," Rena replied. "Especially when one of the hearts involved belongs to someone I care about."

"OK. What if I were to say that I like Cho as well?" Ginny asked.

"I would ask how much? As a friend, or more?" Rena responded, liking this way of getting to the point.

"More than a friend."

"I'd ask what you want me to do about it."

"I'd respond that I maybe want you to set us up?'

"I'd tell you to do it yourself. I'm no messenger girl, and not very subtle, in case you didn't notice." Rena said bluntly.

"Oh, come onཀ I can't do it myself, it's easier if we're set up. Please? I want to, but she's usually surrounded by a bunch of giggling friends who would laugh me out of the school if I asked her outཀ" Ginny took a breath, and Rena thought about it.

"I guess we're not playing the hypothetical game anymore. Oh, well. I would, but I have no clue where you two could meet up." She scratched her head.

"Oo, oo, I know, I knowཀ Pick meཀ" Chris said, grinning.

"You have an idea, sweetie?" Rena asked.

"Yeahཀ Gin, you know how to get into the secret passage, the one to

Hogsmeade, right? The one that goes into Honeydukes?" Ginny nodded. "The one-eyed crone. Just tap the hump on her back and say, "Dissendium', right?" Ginny nodded again. "Well, you two could meet at the Three Broomsticks this weekend. You could sneak off, and I could tell her how to get there, and you could, you know, do the date thing," Chris finished, looking proud of herself for thinking up the idea.

"I like it, Chris," Ginny said, grinning.

"Greatཀ Now we just have to tell Cho. How does 3 in the afternoon sound?" Chris asked. Ginny nodded her approval. "Awesome. Don't worry, Gin, we'll get your honey there for you," Chris added. Ginny batted her lightly on the arm in response, but couldn't help smiling in anticipation.

"Rena?" Chris asked once they were out of Gryffindor tower.

"Yeah?"

"Was it always that easy to please someone? Just setting them up with a crush?"

"If it was, it would have saved me a lot of trouble," Rena joked, looping her arm through Chris'.

"Um, maybe you should tell Cho where to go, and I should just tell her how. I mean, she knows you better," Chris said.

"Okay, I can do that," Rena replied. She leaned on her girl's shoulder, and got a

laugh. She was surprised when she was pushed away. "Heyཀ I was comfy thereཀ" she protested, leaning again.

"Oh, yeah? Well maybe I don't want to lug you all the way down to the fourth floor from all the way up here on the seventh floor," Chris countered, laughing and pushing Rena away again. They got into a giggling fit, and Chris teleported them to her room, in all of its musical glory. Once they calmed down, Rena requested that they go to wherever Cho was and give her the news. "You got it, ma cherie," Chris replied.

"Thanks," Rena said, holding on as they teleported to the common room. Cho heard a noise and jumped. She grinned when Rena told her about the date, and nodded when Chris told her how to get to Hogsmeade. She had to remember that word, and the time. It took a few minutes to get there, so she had to leave early. One thing for sure, that Saturday would be a day to remember.

This Chapter is pretty much done, and to make up for the 2 chapters with my OC's, 2 Harry chapters. Of course, starting this year's problems. I hope. And just so no one accuses me of non-translation, 'ma cherie' is basically 'my girl', affectionate in french. If the word 'cher' pops up in any of my writing, and it's not referring to the singer, it's southern familiar for 'girl', deep in the heart of Louisiana. Like, in old Louisiana, around the bayous and swamps. Like, if someone were to go up to you and say, 'hey, cher', it would be like, 'hey, girl'. Which, depending on gender, could be either affectionate or an insult. Well, I'm out for now.

Peace, love, and all that jazz(make that rock, jazz is harder to play and follow)

Chris(And that's my real name. Well, nickname. My parents didn't name me Chrios, like a certain person seems to think)


	13. read, please?

Hey y'all. I'm sorry that I haven't updated lately…for a few months. Things have been…a lot's happened, and most of it has been bad. I mean, some of it's good, but the most is bad as hell. Most recent is that the computer I have all of my files on was all virus-ridden, so I sent it out for repairs to find that I can't save it, and I got all arm-hurt and haven't been able to re-plug it in and salvage all of the files that I have before doing a permanent plug pull on its sorry hide. Once I get that done, it'll still be another few weeks before I can get it all on my new computer, since I just broke my foot Thursday and the new computer's downstairs. Since it's a little bone in the top of my foot, they can't cast me…and I haven't done the doctor thing yet. But I will…and until I can get down the stairs, it's hopeless. Really, stay with me, please. I have the new chapter all written out for both of my fics, and it'll just be a little while until I can get them up. Thanks, and I am sorry in the majorly really sense that I haven't been able to update. And since I'm away from the computer with the reviews, can I just do the responses when I get the situation all figured out? Gratzi so much

Luv yas.

chrios


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